Report: Infection Prevention and COVID-19 Outbreak Management Strategy

This report provides a comprehensive overview of a project focused on infection prevention and control, specifically addressing the COVID-19 outbreak. The introduction highlights the global impact of the pandemic and the need for effective strategies. The background and context section discusses the severity of the disease and the importance of prevention measures. The strategy section outlines a multi-faceted approach, including stakeholder analysis (government, hospitals, healthcare workers, and experts), engagement strategies, implementation of evidence-based interventions, and training for healthcare workers. The report also identifies potential barriers to implementation, such as communication issues, lack of resources, ineffective stakeholder support, and poor planning. The evaluation section details methods for assessing the strategy's effectiveness. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and emphasizes the importance of a collaborative and adaptable approach to manage future outbreaks. This report is a valuable resource for students and professionals in public health, offering insights into developing and implementing effective infection control measures.

Topic Infection Prevention
and control and COVID 19
Outbreak Management
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT................................................................................................3
STRATEGY....................................................................................................................................5
EVALUATION...............................................................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11
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INTRODUCTION
Covid 19 is an infectious disease which has spread all over the world. It has impacted on
lives of people both mentally and physically. The pandemic has led to loss of lives of people to
great extent. Moreover, disease is spreading at fast rate in many countries. There are no
prevention methods of controlling spread of covid 19. So, in order to control outbreak and
prevent it there is need to have a proper and effective strategy. This requires contribution and
support of government, stakeholder, etc. For prevention and control of disease improvement
project is initiated (Magiorakos, 2017).
This essay will describe about project on infection prevention and control and covid 19
outbreak management. Also, it will discuss on strategy for project and evaluation method in it.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
Covid 19 is highly infectious disease which has led to millions of death. Also, there are
billions of people who are being infected with disease. In present times, covid 19 outbreak has
declined to some extent in some countries. However, it has become necessary for government to
control and prevent spread of this disease. As there is no proper strategy of prevention and
control of disease. In addition, there are no guidelines and standards framed by which disease
can be controlled. Covid 19 pandemic is hitting hard in individual and have negative effect
whereby it has ruined and destroyed every nation economy in harsh manner. This disease is
being spread so much as it has resulted in loss of huge number of lives all across the world. To
remove this in initial stage it has led with economy being forced with means of imposing of Lock
down which has affected the economy in unfavourable manner as business are being stopped,
there is loss of jobs for various individuals which has affects with mental health of individual
where their thinking has went down (Evans, 2020). There are certain prevention and control
methods which are being taken but it is not sufficient. The prevention is not done properly and it
has led to rise in cases of infection. Besides, for preventing spread of disease it is important to
take certain measure and action. Thus, it require to develop strategy for improvement. Through
that, it becomes easy to prevent covid 19 as it provide a framework that what is to be done, how
and when. Hence, there is need to focus on prevention and controlling of it.
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Here, main aim of project is to develop a strategy to prevent and control covid 19
outbreak. This strategy will help in preventing of covid 19 spread and controlling it. Along with
it, proper measures and criteria is set through which disease spread is reduced. For undertaking a
strategy it is essential to determine resources, project team, etc. besides, goals and objectives of
project needs to be find out.
Staffing and resources- In order to implement strategy it require talent and experienced staff.
Besides that, as project is to be executed at large scale so there is requirement of efficient
resources in it. With that it will be easy to execute strategy in effective way. However, resources
required consists of finance, HR, technology, physical, etc. Furthermore, in staffing there is need
to hire people who work in health care sector. This include nurse, front line workers, doctors,
social workers, etc. They should possess advance skills and knowledge by which they are able to
perform task in project (Bedoya, 2017). They must be capable enough to understand how covid
19 can be prevented and controlled. There is need to hire large number of staff. It is because
within strategy there are varied roles and several tasks to be performed. Hence, staff will work on
all those prescribed tasks.
Project team- For implementation of strategy there is need to have a team so that project is
effectively handled and managed. Within team there will be many people working in it at
different roles and responsibilities. Here, it is analysed that within project team there will be a
project manager who will be responsible for entire project. Then, there will be HR who will hire
and recruit team member who are part of project. Alongside, financial manager will be
responsible for allocation of resources and funds. Besides that, there will be a quality expert and
analyst who will look after project standards and measures. The team will consists of health care
professionals and nurse who will play major role in strategy execution. They will provide health
care services and prevent and measure outbreak of covid 19. Alongside, team will consists of
front line workers as well whom will be responsible for applying of strategy at large level.
Current practices- It has been analysed that there are various current practices which are being
implemented for prevention and control (Stoecklin, 2020). Here, first is that there are different
policies and guidelines formed by government. The guidelines consists of norms and rules to be
followed in regard with controlling of disease. For example- wearing of masks, use of sanitizer,
gloves, etc. In addition, some restrictions are impose in social, political gathering, cultural
gathering, to minimise spread of disease. Besides, lock down is imposed on various places to
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stop movement of people from one place to another. But it is found that there is requirement of
improvement in those practices as people are not following those measures in effective way.
Also, it is identified that no rules and norms are followed that is formed by government. This has
led to rise in cases of infection. Hence, in order to prevent and control disease it require to bring
improvement. So, it can be done with help of an effective strategy that is project.
STRATEGY
Here, it gives an overview of strategy that what will be done and how. So, strategy is to start
vaccination to give vaccine to people. The first one to receive it will be health care workers.
Alongside, for prevention and control there will be several measures taken to prevent spread of
covid 19. There will be an effective strategy developed by which it is followed by government,
health care staff, etc. to enable in protecting spread of covid 19. The strategy consists of
methods, procedure, etc. to control disease. It will also involve various stakeholder to support in
prevention measures by control is done (Lai, 2020). It is important to form rules and guidelines
by which prevention and control strategy is executed. Therefore, an effective strategy is
developed for it which is described as below :
Analysis of stakeholder- In addition the stakeholder need to be identified in project. This is
necessary because it enable in implementation of project in proper way. Besides, stakeholder
needs can be identified and accordingly strategy is developed. Moreover, for analysis of
stakeholder, there is a method available that is stakeholder analysis. It is useful in finding out
interest and power of it within project. Similarly, in present project as well it is done as below:
Government- They are crucial stakeholder as they are having high power and interest in
implementation of strategy. They are responsible for forming of policies and imposing it.
Besides, they will provide support in execution of project. Furthermore, they will make thins
Hospital – They are also crucial stakeholder as their interest and power is high. It is because they
will be responsible for supporting project. In addition, they will play major role in control and
prevention of covid 19 strategy.
Health care workers – their interest and power is high within project. There are various health
workers who will be engaged in it such as doctors, nurse, paramedical staff, etc. Thus, they will
be responsible for performing all task of project. Any change in their needs will affect on entire
strategy.
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Expert – they are stakeholder who will give suggestions and opinion on what prevention
measures and control actions are applied to make changes in project. Their opinion is necessary
as it will be useful in taking effective decisions. Basically, experts belong to health care
professions (Cheng, 2020)
So, these all are essential stakeholder by which they will engage in taking effective
decision. Here, views and opinions are analysed and examined. This enable in gathering of data
and info. It need to evaluate data in order to find out how project progress, what change is to be
to done, etc. Stakeholder analysis is useful tool as it show who are they and what changes are to
be made into it. By finding out needs it becomes simple to evaluate things required within
project. Also, accordingly power and interest of stakeholder they are being engaged in decision
making process.
Engagement - It is important to engage stakeholder with strategy implementation so that there
needs are identified. Through that, it enables in understanding view point of various stakeholder
like government, public, hospital management, etc. Alongside, it ease in decision making by
analysing of data and info. Apart from it, in strategy implementation engagement of stakeholder
will be done through a meeting. In this they will be called for meeting and a discussion is done
on how strategy is formed, who will be involved in it, what action is to be taken, etc.
Furthermore, engagement is done to take effective decision.
Implementation strategy for intervention
Implementation strategies are action taken for adopting and implementing of project. This
shows that how interventions are applied into strategy. It enable in giving evidence that how
strategy. Hence, for present project as well there is implement strategy as well. For that evidence
based intervention is applied in it (Soo, 2020). This state that how prevention and control is
being done within strategy in community. It shows difference between what and how is useful
for distinguishing implementation strategies from evidence based interventions. Other than this,
another strategy followed in it is to provide relevant training to health care workers. With that it
will provide way that prevention and control is to be done. What are things to be changed in it,
etc. The strategy will help in systematic review of what action or measure is taken. Also, input
from stakeholder is taken to across strategy by which change in done. It also enable in decision
making by engaging with different people as there are ways related to prevention and control of
covid 19.
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Analysis of barriers- Within project there may occur various barriers which can impact on its
implementation. It is essential to analyse it so that accordingly action and measures are taken.
Thus, in this project the barriers which can occur are defined as :
Communication barrier- this barrier can occur in project due to failure in sharing of data and
info. It will highly impact on overall project as due to inaccurate info project can not be executed
in effective way (GÜNER, Hasanoğlu, Aktaş, 2020). However, due to it decision might not be
taken in effective way. There are unclear roles, responsibilities, time schedule, etc. So, there will
be no relevant task or activities done that can be a barrier in it.
Lack of resources- It is also a barrier that can occur in project. Here, there may be lack of
resources due to which strategy is not properly implemented. In addition, if there is no proper
resources available then strategy is not applied properly. However, lack of resources also result
in delay in project completion. Therefore, strategy is not applied in specified time.
Ineffective support from stakeholder- This can also be a barrier in project as stakeholder like
hospital, government, etc. may not support in implementing strategy. Thus, if they do not support
in it then prevention and control method are not applied in efficient way.
Poor planning- It is also barrier that can led to project failure. Furthermore, in prevention and
control strategy it requires in depth and effective planning as there are many elements to be
considered in it. When there is poor planning then scope, risk, timeline, etc. are not clear. This
can led to failure of project.
Unclear goals and responsibilities- the barrier refers to unclear goals and responsibilities where
team members are not aware about what they have to do and perform. Besides that, they do not
know what goals of project is, who are stakeholders, resources, etc. to be engaged in it.
Communication strategies- There is need to have a proper communication strategy so that all
data and info is shared in effective way (Cooper, 2020). Alongside, it also enable in eliminating
barriers of communication by which it is easy and quick to take effective decisions during
strategy execution. Similarly, having a proper strategy shows framework and procedure that how
communication is to be done. Thus, for current project, the manager will set strategy of
communication plan. In this a plan is developed that outline how communication is done. There
are various components in it that is target audience, format, frequency, etc. through which data
and info is shared by team members to manager. Likewise, for this strategy communication plan
is described as below
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Communication Audience Frequency Format Responsibility
Rules and
guidelines
Stakeholder Weekly E mail Project manager
Control methods Health care
workers
Monthly Meeting Project manager
Resources
required
Government Weekly Meeting Team member
In this way overall communication is done where data and info gathered is shared on
weekly basis to all stakeholder. The project manager is responsible for sharing of data by which
progress is maintained (Magiorakos, 2017). The strategy consists of methods, procedure, etc. to
control disease. It will also involve various stakeholder to support in prevention measures by
control is done. It is important to form rules and guild lines by which prevention and control
strategy is executed.
EVALUATION
It is necessary to evaluate strategy implementation so that it can be analysed whether goals
are attained or not. Besides, it can be clarify that what intervention is measured with set
standards. Besides, with help of it aim and objective of project can be evaluated. There are
various evaluation methods which can be used in this project. They are defined as below :
Performance – this is common method by which project is evaluated. Here, it is identified that
how much effective strategy is and what is its impact on covid 19. Furthermore, how well
strategy is applied in various areas. Thus, overall inspection is done to find out strategy is
properly implemented.
Outcome evaluation – it is also an evaluation method in which results are analysed with set
goals. In that facts and figures are stated and then measured with it. This enable in finding out to
what extent results are generated. Here, the number of covid 19 prevention and infection people
will be measured. Likewise, it can be found that whether strategy is useful or not. The method is
also known as goals based evaluation method.
Impact evaluation- It is a method in which the impact of strategy on prevention and control of
covid 19 is measured. Here, it is evaluated that to what or how much extent strategy is useful in
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minimising impact of covid 19 and it spread. Here, there will be certain areas which is marked
and then impact of strategy is evaluated on it (Evans, 2020). This is an effective method of
evaluation by which it becomes easy to measure strategy implementation.
Feedback and data collection- This is also method where data evaluation is done by collecting
data from market. Here, data is analysed and then measured with set goals. The data contain
breaking of policies by people. Thus, checklist is prepared and on basis of it evaluation of
strategy is done. In this way it is easy to determine effectiveness of prevention of covid 19.
Moreover, for feedback survey can be done with help of questionnaire. This will give results
related to prevention methods applied in controlling.
Here, there are some intervention which is being measured against. The main is numbers
of cases that are being coming due to covid 19. In this it will be analysed that how much there is
decline in cases and also in what area disease spread is controlled. Besides, prevention methods
are followed and in what way (Bedoya, 2017). This means in what area prevention method is
applied and how it is followed. In this following of rules and policies that are being properly
followed or not. The strategy consists of methods, procedure, etc. to control disease. It will also
involve various stakeholder to support in prevention measures by control is done. It is important
to form rules and guidelines by which prevention and control strategy is executed.
CONCLUSION
From essay it can be concluded on covid 19 is infectious disease that has spread all over
world. It has led to loss of life of many people. There is need for government to control and
prevent spread of this disease. There is no proper strategy of prevention and control of disease.
Hence, a project is taken to develop a strategy to prevent and control covid 19 outbreak. The
resources required consists of finance, HR, technology, physical, etc. and staffing include nurse,
front line workers, doctors, social workers, etc. The project team contains project manager HR
financial manager and health care professionals and nurse. Current practices in it are different
policies and guidelines formed by government. And norms and rules to be followed in regard
with controlling of disease. Besides, there are several evaluation methods such as outcome,
performance, impact, etc.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bedoya, G.,and et.al., 2017. Observations of infection prevention and control practices in
primary health care, Kenya. Bulletin of the World health Organization. 95(7). p.503.
Cheng, V.C., and et.al., 2020. Preparedness and proactive infection control measures against the
emerging novel coronavirus in China. Journal of Hospital Infection. 104(3). pp.254-
255.
Cooper, S., and et.al., 2020. Cochrane corner: factors that influence compliance by healthcare
workers with infection prevention and control guidelines for COVID-19 and other
respiratory infections. The Pan African Medical Journal 35(23).
Evans, S., and et.al., 2020. The impact of testing and infection prevention and control strategies
on within-hospital transmission dynamics of COVID-19 in English hospitals. MedRxiv.
GÜNER, H.R., Hasanoğlu, I. and Aktaş, F., 2020. COVID-19: Prevention and control measures
in community. Turkish Journal of medical sciences .50.(SI-1) pp.571-577.
Lai, T.H., and et.al., 2020. Stepping up infection control measures in ophthalmology during the
novel coronavirus outbreak: an experience from Hong Kong. Graefe's Archive for
Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology. 258(5). pp.1049-1055.
Magiorakos, A.P., and et.al., 2017. Infection prevention and control measures and tools for the
prevention of entry of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae into healthcare settings:
guidance from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Antimicrobial
Resistance & Infection Control. 6(1). pp.1-17.
Soo, R.J.J.,and et.al., 2020. Decreased influenza incidence under COVID-19 control measures,
Singapore. Emerging infectious diseases. 26(8). p.1933.
Stoecklin, S.B., and et.al., 2020. First cases of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in France:
surveillance, investigations and control measures, January
2020. Eurosurveillance. 25(6). p.2000094.
Telford, C.T.,and et.al., 2020. Assessment of infection prevention and control protocols,
procedures, and implementation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in twenty-three
long-term care facilities in Fulton County, Georgia. medRxiv.
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