The issue to provide healthcare and no harm, obligates agents within every medical platoon and members of reform measures to social responsibilities that ensure reduction rates of nosocomial infections, through a focus targeted on the duty to serve. In this service, obligation to maintain quality efforts that successfully prevent the spread of nosocomials are the inherent standard. Practices such as handwashing and donning of gloves before and after personal contact with patients is a typical surveillance event with less than 50% compliance according to a joint commission review (Sahud, Bhanot, Radhakrishnan, Bajwa, Manyam, & Post, 2010). Such efforts leading to improve the practice of both handwashing and donning of gloves is critical to ensure the reduction of transmitting pathogens within a healthcare clinical environment and they share goals to improve on a consistent basis. There are other common practices such as wearing protective personal equipment, sterile techniques, and accurate diagnosis, all must be recognized as quality concerns for reduction of risks in their repetitive practice. Studies have been conducted on each of these interventions yielding results of various efficiencies.
However, considering possible threats and outbreaks of virulent diseases such as Ebola and Flu, emergency protocols should be incorporated as standard practices of nosocomial prevention and training. Seasonal vaccinations among healthcare agents should be inclusive annual practices to ensure a continual reduction of hospital acquired diseases in all areas. The case for mandatory vaccination treatments is feasible; resulting in vaccination rejection rates of 2% among vaccine healthcare workers according, to a five-year study conducted at Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Washington. This first to be known infectious control mandate yielded a 98% uptake compliance rate among Health Care Workers (HCW). Policy accommodations for religious and other considerations were granted due to possible concerns relating specifically to medical diagnoses (Rakita, Hagar, Crome, & Lammert, 2010). Although, the study highlights a significant percentage for vaccination uptake, it also pays to recognize the small percentage of vaccination resistant HCW which, includes a fewer number of vaccination resistant workers who withdrew their employment.
This proposal intends to suggest the best practice to ensure a reduction of influenza as a nosocomial disease is to implement vaccination uptake as part of standard training procedures for infection control (e.g. handwashing, personal protective equipment, sterile techniques, vaccination uptake) ensuring education of the HCW recognizes that vaccination uptake, when considered part of standard infectious control procedures and healthcare no harm responsibility rule, will act as an additional form of patient protection in hopes to coincide with core public value. After all, incorporating the standard practices of infectious control and uptake responsibility, vaccinating should be treated as a standard of care regardless of one’s personal value. From the core debate surrounding vaccinations, public value has been stirred into a melting pot mixture of divergent medical practice ideals from which, agents of healthcare must eventually accept reconciliation and collaborate on behalf and presence of clients.
A perception of best practice and prioritization among healthcare agents can lead to determining factors that reduce the spread of nosocomial infections. If a vaccination resistant worker, during an active seasonal outbreak of influenza is expected to be seen wearing a face mask during patient care, he or she may experience greater collaboration if vaccination uptake workers would also wear facemasks while providing patient care during seasonal outbreaks. Evidence of best practice would condone collaborative efforts over values of the elitist. Such recognition in behavior can be an effective tool to provide the highest standards of care amongst an agent’s duty to serve. This practice when implemented as standard could be taught and expressed as professional practice counteracting inverse care among vulnerable patient populations.
Reference
Talbot, T. R., & Schaffner, W. (2010). On being the first: Virginia Mason Medical Center and
mandatory influenza vaccination of healthcare workers.
Sahud, A. G., Bhanot, N., Radhakrishnan, A., Bajwa, R., Manyam, H.,
& Post, J. C. (2010). An electronic hand hygiene surveillance
device: a pilot study exploring surrogate markers for hand hygiene
compliance. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, 31(6),
634-63
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