¶ … Hygiene in Medical Settings
My message will be on hand hygiene for everyone that comes to the hospital.
Hand hygiene for hospital guests is just as important as it is for hospital personnel. Everyday interactions and activities can lead to exposure to a variety of bacteria that can create illness. In a hospital setting, this means that guests with good intentions towards loved ones can inadvertently make an illness worse or introduce new germs into clinically sanitized environments. Bacteria and other illness causing agents are often picked up from external environments and surfaces and then transported through body parts such as the nose, throat, skin, and hair. Because the hands are one of the most active parts of the body, we also carry germs between our fingers and underneath fingernails. Therefore, it becomes important that everyone wash their hands properly and frequently to decrease the transmission of bacteria and other harmful agents.
How did you select the issue, quality, concern or characteristic about the profession of nursing that you wanted the public to know more about?
My selection of this issue is based on statistical information. Two million people each year become ill as a result of a hospital-acquired, nosocomial infection resulting in more than 90,000 patient deaths and $4.5 billion in additional medical expenses each year (Smith, 2009). Proper hand hygiene is critical to the prevention of these infections. The Center for Disease Control indicates that hand-washing can eliminate more than 50% of illness cases. Yet, only average hand-washing rates are only at about 40% (Kuo, 2001). Thus, it is the mission of every mission and care facility to advance the quality of patient care and reduce infection by improving hand hygiene practices in healthcare settings.
Who is the most appropriate target for your message? What is the theme of your message? Why do you think this message is important? What do you hope to accomplish by sharing your message?
Crafting the proper message for guests and families of surgery patients can go a long way to stress the importance of hand hygiene that helps prevent infection spread in hospital settings. This can be an emotional appeal to help encourage compliance. Most are there to support their loved ones in their surgery procedures and recovery....
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now