Introduction
Prevention is better than cure – this probably the most common advertisement of the hospitals in promoting the health awareness among the people. This quote is also applied by various marketers in their products such as soap, alcohol, hand sanitizer, and other related products for hygiene. Aside from the advertisements and promotion, the schools, that usually in primary levels, also campaign for the health of the children. The school nurses or doctors teach each student on how to clean their hands to avoid the complications caused by the germs and other viruses through the hand and mouth contact.
Background and Problem Statement
The epidemic in Sarawak Hospital in East Malaysia in 1997 cannot be easily forgotten by the people. The death of the patients is associated with the complications due to the hand, foot, and mouth disease or HFMD. This became an outbreak and pushed to the immediate response of the heath care providers and the national health department of the country. The epidemic of the HFMD first attacks the children in which the viruses spread and the known cause is the lack of hygiene. After a decade, what are the new performances, beliefs, and the perceptions of the nurses regarding the hand hygiene in Sarawak Hospital?
Research Objectives
The first objective of the study is to determine the various sides and ideas of the nurses regarding the importance of the hand hygiene in their practice. Second, is to define each nurse’s perceptions and beliefs for it can be reflected on their performances inside the hospital setting.
Research Questions
The study understands the different issues that might emerge in the study. Therefore, several questions are presented that can be the basis of the study in meeting its objectives.
1. What are the ways of proper hand washing?
2. What are the typical reasons why should the nurses have to follow the hand washing procedure?
3. What can be reason that affects the spread of the infectious diseases within the hospital setting?
Literature Review
The hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is typically present among the childhood which is caused by the hand to mouth contact or foot to mouth contact. HFMD is caused by enteroviruses that might create lesions among the children (Chan, 2003). The simple measure that the health authorities found to avoid this drastic situation is the compliance of the people as well as the health care providers in the means of hand washing. Hand hygiene is the primary measure to reduce the infections by because of the lack of the compliance among the health care providers, the simple problems becomes worse. Because of the various health outbreaks, the focus of the health organization is to bring the attention back to the standards of hand washing.
Through the revival of this practice, the health problems can be lessened and can help on implementing the successful interventions. Hospitals are expected to heal the sick but due to their malpractices the health care providers are also the sources of the infection. In fact, it is identified that the hospital infections are the leading cause of the deaths in some parts of the world. These infections are associated with the surgical site infections and its getting worse because the availability of the arsenal drugs to treat infections are depleted. In addition, there is a discovery that reveals the resistance of the microbes to the antimicrobial drugs and the effectiveness of the agents are temporary (WHO, 2005; Bakar, S., 2009).
Methodology
The proposed method that can be used is the use of first, the interview and second is the observation. The nurses which are also the participants are also taken their age, gender, years in practice, position, and their years of serving the Sarawak General Hospital. This information can be the basis of their perceptions and beliefs regarding the hand hygiene. On the other hand, the interview will focus on the aim of the hand washing inside the hospital, followed up with the observation on how the nurses comply with their hand washing policy. All of the procedures as well as the conducting of the interview will remain in the present issue or pressure being faced by the Hospital and on the different actions they provide to avoid future health situations.
Conclusion
Aside from the innovative ways of curing and treating the patients, nurses as well as doctors should ignore the simple means of washing their hands. Through proper hand washing, the patients are assured or secured that they went in the hospital for treatment and not to be infected.
References:
Bakar, S., 2009. Doctor’s Attire and Patient Safety, Medical Journal of Malaysia, Vol. 64, No. 3 [Online] Available at: http://www.mma.org.my/Portals/0/MED%20J%20MALAYSIA%20VOL%2064%20NO%203%20SEPT%202009.pdf [Accessed 09 March 2010].
Chan, K., Goh, K., Chong, C., Teo, E., Lau, G., & Ling, A., 2003. Epidemic Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease Caused by Human Enterovirus 71in Singapore, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol. 9, No. 1 [Online] Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol9no1/02-0112.htm [Accessed 09 March 2010].
WHO, 2005. WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care: A Summary Clean Hands are Safer Hands, World Alliance for Patient Safety [Online] Available at: http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2005/WHO_EIP_SPO_QPS_05.2.pdf [Accessed 09 March 2010].
No comments:
Post a Comment