Assignment: Health Care Setting Discussion

Assignment: Health Care Setting Discussion
Assignment: Health Care Setting Discussion
Attend a committee meeting in your health care organization. If you are not currently employed in a health care setting, you may elect to attend a committee meeting at another company, a community center, a local school, local chamber of commerce or other professional organization.
Observe the interactions between committee members and the process used by the committee to arrive at decisions.
In 500-750 words, describe the function of the committee and the roles of those in attendance. Describe your observations of the interactions between members of the committee and determine whether the process used to arrive at decisions is a form of shared governance. Please include if you felt the meeting used shared governance or not.
A minimum of two academic references from credible sources are required for this assignment. Source must be published within the last 5 years and and appropriate for the assignment criteria and nursing content.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.
Committee Review
I. Introduction of the committee
II. Function of the committee
A. Roles of those in attendance
III. Describe your observation of the interactions between members of the committee.
IV. Do you believe the meeting used shared governance or not?
Simple conclusion.
Acute care hospitals, urgent care centers, rehabilitation centers, nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, specialized outpatient services (e.g., hemodialysis, dentistry, podiatry, chemotherapy, endoscopy, and pain management clinics), and outpatient surgery centers all fall under the umbrella term “healthcare setting.”
Some medical services are also provided in private offices or homes.
Specific sites or services within each type of context could be the focus of an epidemiologic inquiry.
Acute care hospitals are large, complicated institutions with several specialized sections for triage and emergency care, inpatient and outpatient surgical operations, immunosuppression treatment (e.g., oncology or transplant patients), rehabilitation services, and intensive care units.
Recognizing infectious disease transmission hazards requires an understanding of the sorts of patients and clinical services supplied in a specific location.
Problems discovered in a healthcare environment can also be linked to the usage of contaminated pharmaceuticals or devices at the point of manufacture or at other locations outside of the setting of interest.
This chapter provides an overview of epidemic investigations in hospitals.
Although viruses are the most common cause of outbreaks in hospital settings, outbreaks can also be linked to noninfectious chemical and other hazardous substances.
This chapter focuses on epidemiologic investigations of infections, but it also includes examples of noninfectious diseases.
Context for Infections in Healthcare Settings at the Top of the Page
Infections Associated with Healthcare (HAIs)
Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a primary source of needless death and injury among people getting medical treatment.
HAIs are a severe hazard to public health, affecting millions of patients each year throughout the world.
An HAI is an infection linked to the delivery of healthcare in any setting.
Because patients may be colonized (i.e., microorganisms on or in a person without causing disease) or exposed outside the healthcare setting, and patients frequently move between different settings within a healthcare system, this term reflects the inability to always determine with certainty where the pathogen was acquired (1).
HAIs can arise after a patient has been discharged, and they can be transmitted to visitors and healthcare staff (HCP) as well as patients.
Causes of HAIs
Patients are exposed to a variety of microbes when obtaining medical care, and infectious pathogens might be acquired from them.
HCP or another patient who has been infected or colonized (cross-infection);
The microbiome of the patient (endogenous infection);
Surfaces or things in the environment that have been polluted by another person (e.g., bed rails, IV poles, countertops, or washroom surfaces);
Medical devices that have been contaminated (such as central venous catheters, urinary catheters, endoscopes, surgical tools, or ventilators);
Medications that have been tainted;
sources of contaminated water; or
Heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems.
Table 18.1 Estimates of healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals in the United States, 2011.
Site of major infection
Pulmonary no. 157,500 (estimated)
Gastrointestinal 123,100
93,300 urinary tracts
71,900 people have a primary bloodstream.
157,500 Surgical from any inpatient surgery
Other 118,500
The overall number of infections in hospitals is estimated to be 721,800.
Reference 2 was used as a starting point.
A wide range of organisms have been implicated with HAI transmission scenarios, including bacteria, fungus, viruses, parasites, and prions, to name a few.
Pathogens that are commonly found in the community or pathogens that are rarely seen outside of healthcare environments and specific patient populations can trigger HAI outbreaks.
The likelihood of infection after exposure is influenced by (1) microorganism characteristics, such as antimicrobial resistance, intrinsic virulence, and the amount of infective material; (2) patient factors, such as immune status, wounds, other underlying comorbidities, length of stay, prior antimicrobial exposures, and whether their care involves surgical or other invasive procedures or devices; and (3) facility-level factors, such as inattention.
Assignment: Health Care Setting Discussion
The Prevalence of HAIs
Despite recent improvements in preventing specific types of HAIs through enhanced surveillance and infection prevention and control techniques, HAIs continue to be a regular occurrence.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) 2014 HAI Prevalence Survey on the burden of HAIs in US hospitals, an estimated 722,000 HAIs occurred in US acute care hospitals in 2011 (Table 18.1). (2).
In addition, nearly 75,000 HAI patients died during their hospital stays.
Outside of intensive care facilities, more than half of all HAIs occurred (2).