An outbreak of an infection is when it affects more than just one individual. Infections can spread among people very quickly and in many cases have not been prevented in spreading and has caused countless outbreaks throughout the decades. When infections begin to spread there are many ways to stop and control the outbreak. In recent years there have been many out breaks within health and social care settings that have caused several deaths. In 2007 there was an outbreak of the super bug MRSA similar to the epidemic of measles in 2012 about.com (online: 2012). Outbreaks are consent scene within the world but all settings need to be aware of the control measure that they need to put in to place to stop them becoming worldwide. An outbreak may be controlled by eliminating or reducing the source of infection, interrupting transmission and protecting persons at risk. When the measures to control an outbreak are put in place they need to follow the legal requirements and guidelines.
The food safety act states that individuals working with food need to be trained about the importance of hand washing and when there is most need to wash hands. For example after working with meat the hands need to be washed as there would be infectious bacteria?s on the hands that need to be removed before going on to the next task. This was stated by the department of health (2012: online). Hand washing is a safety measure that is crucial in preventing infections and is needed in most legislations and regulations related to infection control. The World Health Organisation and the Health Department yearly improve the stand of cleaning hands and make sure that as health and social care facilities increase the risk of infections is reduced according to the world health organisation (2012:online). Environmental hygiene/ Waste management This is another measure that is used to control infectious outbreaks. Health and social care settings can provide the ideal environment for micro- organisms to grow and be transmitted from staff to service users. This is because of the vast amount of people living under one roof and also due to weak immune systems that are unable to tolerate any bad pathogens.
Protective isolation: this is where the individuals who are at risk of catching infections due to weak immune systems are isolated. Both of these forms of isolation can take place in controlling infections from spreading within blue cable care home. Infection control guidelines for care home (2007: online) The Public Health Regulation department of health (online: 2010) also informs settings that when staffs work with patients who are in isolation they need to be present with a member of the health protection team. When a person is isolated all the previous mentioned measure should also be practiced when working with the isolated individual. For example hand washing, cleaning and decontamination and movement. Transfer and movement of patients should be kept to a minimum to reduce the risk of infection transmission and should only be undertaken for clinical reasons. Overall Isolation, personal protective equipment, hand washing and environmental hygiene some of the safety measure that are put in place to reduce infections and prevent infectious outbreaks. The source of all these safety measures comes from guidelines, legislations and regulations which mean that they need to be enforced on all staff to contemplate and clearly understand the reason behind why they are set and how they can have the most effective way in being able to control infectious outbreaks.
P2:
An essential requirement for the growth of bacteria is moisture; most will die very quickly without it. This provides us with a useful infection control measure; we can stop pathogens from multiplying by keeping surfaces clean and dry. Some yeast, moulds and fungi can grow in dry conditions. Protein and carbohydrate are needed by most bacteria in order to grow. Bacteria can obtain their essential nutrients from foods such as meat, eggs, fish, cheese, milk and cooked rice. Many places within the human body have an abundance of suitable food such as the mouth. Most pathogens prefer to grow in pH neutral conditions; many of the cavities in the body are protected from an invasion by a high pH. An example of this is the stomach, which is very acidic and kills ingested pathogens. All bacteria need time to be able to multiply and it has been observed that generally bacteria divide into two every twenty minutes. Infections can be spread through many things, these include; food borne infection, person to person, water borne infection, airborne infection, insect borne infection and fomites. A lot of virus infections are obtained through inhalation of infectious droplets, the common cold virus is an example of this. A common way of spreading gastrointestinal infections is through the faecal-oral route, examples of this include typhoid, cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and poliomyelitis which are all obtained through drinking water contaminated with for example human faeces. The pathogens which cause venereal diseases are vulnerable. They die rapidly when exposed to conditions outside of the body. For them to be able to spread, these pathogens need the most intimate of human contact.
P3:
Standard precautions are produced in order to ensure that all relevant steps are taken to protect residents, and staff from infections within the residential care home. Within care settings like a residential home; infectious diseases are able to spread due to the large number of residents inhabiting the home who are sharing living and eating accommodation. ‘Infection is a major cause of illness among care home residents and may result in avoidable admissions to hospital.
However, due to this procedure not been promoted enough and enforced, many health care workers do not wash their hands when providing care for their clients. It is compulsory that hand washing is performed before a care worker comes into direct contact with a client and also after any contact which could result in their hands becoming contaminated. For example, if a residential service user was sick unexpectedly and the care worker had their bodily fluids on their hands, they should wash them immediately as this is how infections can spread. Every member of staff should be trained in performing hand hygiene correctly using liquid soap and water and also an alcohol hand wash to eliminate any bacteria on the hands. To enable carers to perform hand hygiene correctly necessary facilities are required such as; a hand wash basin with both hot and cold water and also disposable paper towels. If any of these facilities are not available it may cause cross contamination of infections throughout the residential care home. Personal Protective Equipment, referred to as PPE must be taken in consideration in every health and social care setting including a residential home.
It should be clearly stated on the box that it is fragile and all contents should be placed in a heavy duty plastic bag. The choice of decontamination method depends on the risk of infection to the patient who comes into contact with equipment. Such items can be categorised into three risk groups, these are; ? High risk – these include items which are used to penetrate skin or mucous membrane; or enter the vascular system or sterile spaces. They need to be sterilised if they are going to be reused. ? Medium risk – these are items which come into contact with intact mucous membranes or may be contaminated with particularly dangerous or readily transmittable organisms. Such items require cleaning followed by disinfection or sterilisation. ? Low risk – these are which come into contact with intact skin or do not contact the patient directly. These items require cleaning.
P4:
The public health act 1984 The public health act (control of disease) was written in 1984, it has become a big part of infection control and is about reporting infectious or contagiousness diseases or illnesses, this has been made a legal requirement to report them, the local authority will need to know about this; this is so that the information can be passed on to the Health Protection agency and then there can be an investigation on where the infection came from and how to prevent other people getting the infection. If infections aren’t report there could be a massive epidemic and the doctor or health practitioner could be disciplined. Health and safety at work act 1974 The health and safety at work at was brought in, in 1974 and it’s the main pierce of legislations that employers must use, it focuses on how people can reduce the risk of harm and states that professionals need to carry out risk assessments of places and introduce health and safety policies. This act is very important in health and social care; it stated to reduce risks professionals need to look at all risks and write a risk assessment. Professionals need to incorporate this into the service, in some places there is health and safety managers, also this act encourages people to carry out risk assessments, and look at what are the major ways people could become harmed, The health and safety effects care though assigned staff having to carry out risk assessments, and they say what the service is putting in place to protect people in the environment .Also, to promote the independence of service user while protecting them from danger example as a care worker you are required to maintain the right of the service user and to report any dangerous abusive behaviour towards people in the care home. Hand massage Infection and Control: Before, I carryout this activity I make sure that I wash my hands in order to prevent any kind of cross infection. I also make sure that I wash my hands before doing the activity on to each client. In addition, I also make sure that I change the water from each of the client before washing their hands as this could help to prevent any infection that will occur when doing this activity. Health and Safety at Work Act 1974: Is the main law that provides guidelines in order to maintain the health and safety for everyone in the workplaces including visitors, as it applied to both employer and employee that are in duties. I make sure that I remove all unused equipment around them which is related to the health and safety at work Act which said that it is the duty of all employers to make sure that they provide a safe working atmosphere. I also informed them about the type of activity I would be doing with them as it gives them some idea about what they would be expected to do, which is related to this law as it say that employer should provide information, training, and supervision.
A key role is though risk assessments, this is used in almost every health and social care setting and even more so in controlling infection, risk assessments are role because they can point out areas in the setting that could potentially cause problems for everyone and then by indentifying this people can look at how to reduce this. Also another role that links into this is reviewing practices and procedures this can help professionals though always looking at ways to improve that practice and constantly change and address issues that arise. This will continually improve the work place though trying out new methods. The procedure of staff carrying out risk assessments is that staff can be made aware of the risks that can arise; this is good as it can lead to members of staff being more wary of the dangers of actions and where the main risks can be. On the other hand the negative side of carrying to risk assessment procedures is because making risk assessment can take up a lot of time, and this can be time that could be spent helping service users; however it could be argued that it’s more important to ensure that risk assessments are taken place.
P5:
the roles and responsibilities of; * Care workers * Managers * Specialist health workers * Environmental health officers * Health protection units * Non- care workers * Visitors Care workers Care workers, such as health care assistance, social care assistants and senior health and social care workers, all have different kinds of roles and responsibilities that they have to follow. They have to always be aware of and report changes in the health conditions of the individuals that they support. They also have a responsibility to assist with keeping work areas, and equipment clean, tidy and free from infection hazards. They are also encouraged to maintain good personal hygiene for themselves as well as their service users.
They all send their staff on training so that they are fully prepared for the job they are about to take on. Another important responsibility is to give advice and guidance on infection and control issues, such as how to manage an outbreak of infection. (Mitchie.V, Baker.L,2008). Doctors are another kind of specialist health workers and they have very important jobs. They Visit regularly and frequently and have a regular time for reviews. They are also encouraged to have individual and ward treatment policies available and accessible for out of hour’s medical cover. Doctors need to be aware of the potential for many types of abuse of dependent and difficult patients and be involved in plans and training for prevention, recognition and management of abuse. Their main role is to diagnose and treat infection diseases and health associated infections. They also have to notify the Environmental Health Officer work for local authorities and give advice to people about certain diseases and infection.
They can make an impact on infection prevention through either direct or indirect contact with the care environment and the people who work within it. If at some stage, the non care workers come in contact with people in their work place, they will need to know any safety measures that they should take, for example, if a client has some sort of infectious disease. (Ayling.P, 2007). In many organisations, it is important for any clerical staff to be aware of potential hazards which could harm their health. This is because, administrations assistants have contact with individuals while taking their personal details, so being made aware of any potential hazards, means they can report it following the admission procedure. Visitors Visitor’s have a responsibility to help prevent the spread of infection and the workers within the environment should encourage them to comply with hygiene policies and procedures. This includes; * Wearing clean clothes * Washing and drying your hands when appropriate * Talk to someone in charge if they have any queries about the cleanliness of the environment.
