DISEASE PREVENTION IN HOSPITALS

Running head: DISEASE PREVENTION IN HOSPITALS 1

DISEASE PREVENTION IN HOSPITALS 2

Disease Prevention in Hospitals

Yoslaine Guevara

Miami Regional University

Disease Prevention in Hospitals

Theoretical Framework

There are several theories that are in place supporting the disease prevention and health promotion approach in healthcare. The theories and models explain how the planning to understand the people heath behavior would assist much in the identification, development and implementation of intervention. There are several factors that need to be considered when choosing a theory and this includes the specific health problem targeted, health promotion and the disease prevention. Social cognitive theory is one of the theories and is more about influencing individual health behaviors. The social cognitive theory (SCT) offers the possibility of giving an opportunity of social support to the patients and healthcare providers towards prevention from the disease infections (RHI, 2021). The nurses and doctors have the understanding and behavior capability of considering preventing themselves from contracting diseases by using the personal protective gear required before attending to patients.

Educating and promoting disease promotion by nurses to the patients under the SCT is an approach that helps towards disease prevention in the hospital setting. The second theory is the reasoned action/planned behavior theory that suggests that an individual health behavior is determined by their intention to perform the behavior. A person behavioral intention is based on their attitude and subjective norms regarding the behavior and this is what guides the patients, staff and the healthcare providers in the hospital setting in the approach in offering necessary disease prevention from spreading (RHI, 2021). The hospital management intention or the reasoned action of creating the best environment in the hospital that ensure that the staff are safe from disease infections and the patients have enough space to minimize possible infections within the facility.

Research Questions

Determine the possible ways in which disease infections are prevented in hospital?

Identify the best practices that will minimize hospital infections?

The five studies have discussed similar research questions have highlighted above but the differences are associated on the type of diseases that they are preventing from being infected in the hospital facility. The research study by (Schoppenthau et al, 2021) answers the research question about the best prevention ways against in-hospital Covid-19 infections targeting on protecting the patients and hospital staff. Lindsey et al (2016) study research question is about determining the ways of preventing the healthcare-associated antibiotic-resistant (AR) infections. The (Lindsey et al, 2016) study has dealt with 4000 short-term acute care hospitals, 501 long-term acute care hospitals and 1135 impatient rehabilitation facilities in all the 50 states. Gan et al (2020) study also targets on answering the question about the best practices that should be adopted in the hospitals in order to achieve zero occupational infections in the hospitals. The research study conducted by (Robin et al., 2018) is about answering about the newer approaches to preventive intervention against infectious diseases in older adults in long-term facilities, hospital and nursing facilities.

Data Collection Methods

The data collection methods highlighted in the articles were the use of questionnaires and survey methods where the participants were subjected to a monitoring program in checking the outcome of the prevention strategies.

Sampling and Sampling Size

The research conducted by (Robin et al., 2018) target the elderly population of the patients of 65 years and above and the process of sampling most was done through volunteering process where the target facilities are chosen. The volunteering approach is more necessary when handling a sensitive topic like the health status of a patient. The sampling technique adopted in the study (Schoppenthau et al, 2021) involves strategically targeting the hospital facility employee. The employees are the nurses, physicians and other staff and they are all of age range between 19 and 71 years. A sample size of 394 staff was subjecting to the SARS-CoV-2 testing and 589 tests were conducted on the patients. The study by Gan et al (2020) was more about assessing the general improvements and targets towards achieving a zero occupational infections in Singapore and make sure that the healthcare providers are protected from infections. Bearman et al (2019) implemented the cluster randomized method in choosing the participants of the study that comprised of healthcare providers of 20 medical and surgical ICUs in 20 US hospitals. The cluster randomized trial was used in gloving and gowning the medical staff in the ICU facilities and the impact on patient and healthcare interactions are monitored and recorded.

Research Designs

The highlighted articles employed distinct research designs based on the objective of the study. The study by (Schoppenthau et al, 2021) collected data through voluntary approach and this means that the administering of the treatment was not done randomly but there was the consent from the patient or healthcare provider. A quasi experimental design was adopted for the study where testing was conducted on the effectiveness of the preventive techniques against the SARS-CoV-2. A questionnaire was used to collect the participants’ feedback that was subjected to a periodical monitoring. A true experimental design was adopted in the study by (Bearman et al., 2019) and this was demonstrated by the cluster randomized design treatment on the universal gloving and gowning and the outcome of the prevention strategy monitored for the patients and healthcare workers in terms of infectious disease prevention. A correlation research study was adopted for the (Lindsey et al., 2016) study where different data for the 50 states about the infectious disease and the impact of the preventive approaches.

Goals and Health Outcome

The goal of the study is to define the appropriate ways in which disease infections are avoided in the hospital setting especially in protecting the patients and the healthcare providers. The findings of all the five articles indicates that the physicians, nurses and healthcare leaders are required to follow the required infectious disease prevention protocols and recommendation for a better outcome. According to (Bearman et al., 2019), hospital-acquired infections are associated with a significant increase in morbidity and mortality. The existing infectious disease prevention processes are known to prevent approximately 70% of the infectious diseases and the prevention protocols include gloving, gowning and implementing contact precautions. The study on (Schoppenthau et al, 2021) has illustrated about the massive testing conducted in the healthcare institutions about the highly infections Covid-19 and the adoption of the isolation strategies and masking has resulted to a decrease in the infection rate among the patients and the staff members. There is a high possibility of a zero occupational infections in the hospitals and this is achieved by adhering to all the prevention techniques and always being cautious on using the protective equipments and gear.

Research Findings and Implementing Strategy

The findings obtained by (Lindsey et al., 2016) demonstrate that there has been a tremendous progress in the approach towards preventing infectious diseases within the hospital facility. The many remaining infections that are experienced in the hospitals are mainly contributed by the failure of the healthcare providers by failing to implement the existing recommended practices that include masking, gloving and gowning. According to (Schoppenthau et al, 2021), a comprehensive testing of the patients and the hospital staff for the SARS-CoV-2 and the use of surgical face masks for both parties helps in the early detection of the infectious Covid-19.

Early detection of the COVID-19 play a major role in preventing the spread to the vulnerable hospital population (Schoppenthau et al, 2021). The other articles support the masking and gowning and the use of all the protective gear as the preventive strategies to the infectious diseases. The hospital management should consider offering the necessary resources needed to achieve a healthy work environment to achieve a zero occupational infections (Bearman et al., 2019). Based on the findings, there is the need to sensitize more about implementing the safety precaution of preventing the infectious diseases from spreading in the hospital to meet the requirement of the healthcare providers to avoid harming the already vulnerable population.

Interrelationship between Theory, EPB and research

The theories discussed include the social cognitive theory (SCT) and the reasoned action theory. The theories express more about the understanding and the intention of an individual’s to perform the prevention behavior like adhering to the provided guidelines. The theories relate with the evidence based practice (EBP) in a manner that there is the need of training and building a subjective behavior and norms of adhering to the safety protocols to minimize spreading the infectious disease in the hospital facility. Evidence based research works in a manner that the highlighted source of the problem is addressed through research to find the necessary solutions. An example is the issue that the healthcare professionals are not masking or gowning and the concern is directed towards researching the reasons that contribute to the non-adherence.

Credibility of the Sources

The five sources used in the research paper are credible and their findings and outcomes are true since they are resources that are scholarly and peer-reviewed. The chosen articles are credible in a manner that they were published in between the period of 3-5 years.

References

Bearman, G., Doll, M., Cooper, K., & Stevens, M. (2019). Hospital Infection Prevention: How Much Can We Prevent and How Hard Should We Try?. Current Infectious Disease Reports, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11908-019-0660-2

Gan, W., Lim, J., & Koh, D. (2020). Preventing Intra-hospital Infection and Transmission of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Health-care Workers. Safety And Health At Work, 11(2), 241-243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.shaw.2020.03.001

Jump, R., Crnich, C., Mody, L., Bradley, S., Nicolle, L., & Yoshikawa, T. (2018). Infectious Diseases in Older Adults of Long-Term Care Facilities: Update on Approach to Diagnosis and Management. Journal Of The American Geriatrics Society, 66(4), 789-803. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.15248

RHI. (2021). Social Cognitive Theory Model – Rural Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Toolkit. Ruralhealthinfo.org. Retrieved 27 June 2021, from https://www.ruralhealthinfo.org/toolkits/health-promotion/2/theories-and-models/social-cognitive.

Schöppenthau, D., Weiß, K., Estepa-Martinez, M., Hommel, M., Miera, O., & Schoenrath, F. et al. (2021). Preventing SARS-CoV-2 In-Hospital Infections in Cardiovascular Patients and Medical Staff: An Observational Study From the German Heart Center Berlin. Frontiers In Medicine, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2020.616648

Weiner, L., Fridkin, S., Aponte-Torres, Z., Avery, L., Coffin, N., & Dudeck, M. et al. (2016). Vital Signs: Preventing Antibiotic-Resistant Infections in Hospitals – United States, 2014. American Journal Of Transplantation, 16(7), 2224-2230. https://doi.org/10.1111/ajt.13893