Student Reflection: Insights on Infectious Diseases and Prevention

This report provides a comprehensive reflection on infectious diseases, drawing insights from a workshop focused on disease prevention and control. The author discusses the impact of guest speakers on their understanding of vaccination, the importance of advanced techniques in reducing disease burden, and the challenges posed by limited resources, especially in developing countries. The reflection covers the author's changed perception of Healthcare-Acquired Infections (HAIs), the role of health information technology, and the emergence of new threats like bioterrorism. Furthermore, the report highlights the influence of the infectious disease course on the author's career aspirations, emphasizing the significance of research, policy impact, and the various methods of disease prevention and control. The author's career interests are also discussed, emphasizing the importance of becoming a professor in the field.

Running head: REFLECTION ON INFECTIOUS DISEAES 1
Reflection on Infectious Diseases
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Date

REFLECTION ON INFECTIOUS DISEAES 2
The reflection on the Infectious diseases
The guest speakers
The guest speakers invited at the workshop significantly impacted and positively changed my
perception towards the transmissible infections. I never knew that vaccination could play a key
role in reducing the widespread of the infectious diseases. It's now clear to me that treatment of
specific disease not only decreases the incidences of the disease but also help in reducing the
economic and social burden of such disease within a given community. The Infectious diseases
like Malaria can be controlled and prevented through the intensive development of vaccines. The
vaccination of these infectious diseases is one of the integral parts of the communicable
infections. Concerning (malERA Consultative Group on Drugs, 2011). I can now understand that
to reduce the contagious diseases cases globally; there is the necessity of employing advanced
techniques. Such techniques are essential in reducing and measuring the mortality rate, cost,
antibiotic and bacterial resistance(Diseases, 2013). This can well be achieved by incorporating
components like training, education and intensive research(Relman, 2011). From the speakers
can understand that the control and prevention of the infectious diseases is as well a challenge
due to unlimited resources. The problem is attributed to prolong admissions, mortality, additional
treatment cost and resistance, especially with developing countries.
The workshop opened my eyes in comprehending the key role I play in ensuring all the
departments are addressing their communities appropriately. This should incorporate the
investigation of the various diseases outbreak like Ebola and understand clearly the link between
the health of the public outcome and environmental conditions(The Lancet Infectious Diseases,
2010). Hence the right tool to employ in this case is the epidemiology. I could not have gained
such knowledge if these guest speakers were never invited to this workshop.

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The changed perception
I thought the HAIs only could affect the medical practitioners. But surprisingly, the HAI'S
(Healthcare-Acquired infections) can affect both the pediatric and adult patients(Stein, 2011).
Healthcare-associated diseases can affect not only the adults but also the young kids of as low as
1000 grams. The workshop made it clear that the current interventions methods we have today
are not enough in combating the disease. However, further revision needs to be implemented in
advancing the medical(The Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2018). I also understood that there is the
number of methods that can be used in advancing the Medicare(Nicolle, 2012). One of them is
the use of different procedures developed by various medical researchers in improving the
reliability to examine the HAIs. Secondly, making use of the HIT (Health information
technology in providing the future developments(Reed & Kemmerly, 2009). Lastly, medical
practitioners can improve the efficiency in examining the Healthcare-acquired infections through
long-term care facilities and tracking the individuals seeking healthcare with other health
facilities.
Some years back I believed that the fight between the infectious illness and humans was no
longer there. But have come to realize that the recently recognized infections causing the health
problems to the public locally and internationally are the emerging infections. For instance, there
is great danger of the biological weapons used as the bioterrorism. Many of the toxins like
Bacillus anthracis can simply be produced in large scale as well being used as healthcare-
acquired infections.
However, these diseases remain the leading causes of many deaths globally. Understanding how
these diseases emerge is critical in establishing appropriate strategies in controlling them. Those
transmitted from one individual to another can be controlled through proper sanitation, hygiene,

REFLECTION ON INFECTIOUS DISEAES 4
and education. Vaccination can help in controlling the pathogen that emerges inside the body of
the host(Khan, Ahmad, & Mehboob, 2015).
Learning practices.
The study of the infectious disease course has dramatically equipped me with advanced
knowledge and skills in prevention and control the infections. The expert allocated for this class
was well renowned and designed the course in a way that fully suited my needs. I never had the
reason in adjusting my learning timetable since the resources were available and the participation
was as well availed online hence I could participate anywhere regardless of the schedule. The
lecture allowed multimedia recording which established an appropriate learning environment. To
make the workshop fruitful to me and my community with the aim of developing proper
procedures in controlling the infectious diseases, had to prepare myself with the writing
materials. Then had to access reading material through the internet and to equip me with
essential data. The kind of data overwhelmed the dataset of the population and some assessment
critical for participating within the workshop. Therefore, the course facilitated reading
opportunities through the blogs, the wikis, and the Webinar which allowed me in connecting
with the peers. The complete online program allowed me to make all the online follow up which
could be appropriate for any busy medical practitioner globally. During short breaks, we were
grouped into small groups and in few minutes, which made it easy in sharing the ideas of the
speakers with the new individuals which have not met before. It was as well exciting to
brainstorm the ideas shared by the speakers through the presentation which again was an
opportunity in interacting with the speakers. The study of the infection diseases course has
dramatically influenced my motive in reading the infection disease materials. This is because

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these diseases need to be given the priority since more knowledge is necessary for evaluating
their cost, feasibility and the impact from various interventions.
Consideration of career and employment
Concerning various speakers' presentation during the workshop and the coursework on infectious
diseases, this is the best field to consider in my employment and career. The employment and
career within the field involves the research using various aspects that result in dangerous
infections which guarantees me to end up becoming a professor. The main job of the professor is
constituted by the discoveries which will help me in impacting different policies that relate to the
health hence contributing to saving the resources and people's lives. As a specialist in the field, I
will have an opportunity in directing and planning my studies within my own time and expose
me as well to various methods in preventing and controlling the diseases. A career in this field
will also give exposure to issues like examining the blood and the body samples to determine the
causes the disorders in the best way.

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References
Diseases, Z. I. (2013). Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings: Minimum
Expectations for Safe Care. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Khan, H. A., Ahmad, A., & Mehboob, R. (2015). Nosocomial infections and their control
strategies. Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Biomedicine.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apjtb.2015.05.001
malERA Consultative Group on Drugs. (2011). A research agenda for malaria eradication: drugs.
PLoS Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1000402
Nicolle, L. E. (2012). Urinary Catheter-Associated Infections. Infectious Disease Clinics of
North America. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2011.09.009
Reed, D., & Kemmerly, S. A. (2009). Infection control and prevention: a review of hospital-
acquired infections and the economic implications. The Ochsner Journal.
https://doi.org/10.1043/1524-5012-9.1.27
Relman, D. A. (2011). Microbial Genomics and Infectious Diseases. New England Journal of
Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1003071
Stein, R. A. (2011). Super-spreaders in infectious diseases. International Journal of Infectious
Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijid.2010.06.020
The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (2010). The deadly synergy of HIV and tuberculosis. The
Lancet Infectious Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(10)70124-9
The Lancet Infectious Diseases. (2018). The dengue vaccine dilemma. The Lancet Infectious

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Diseases. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1473-3099(18)30023-9