The Hazards Of Nursing : Caring

Since chemotherapy agents have been around in the 1950s there have been studies to find out the effect on the health care workers, particularly the pharmacists who make the drugs and nurses who administer the drugs to the patients. I will be focusing my research on the nurses who administer the chemotherapy drugs to the patients. Chemotherapy falls under the hazardous drug category due to the low levels of exposure nurses are exposed to while administering chemotherapy.

According to Plog and Quinlan (2012) explains the four tenets of industrial hygiene. Furthermore, states that anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control are the useful tenants of workplace hygiene that allow an industrial hygienist to minimize the exposures of hazards by implementing appropriate controls. The controls may include proper disposal of chemical and biodegradable materials. To be effective in recognizing and evaluating on the job hazards and recommending controls, industrial hygienists must be familiar with the hazards' characteristics. Major job risks can include air contaminants, and chemical, biological, physical, and ergonomic hazards.

Every industry consists of code and or indicator for certain level of references. When it comes to a patient’s health and or treatment strategy it’s important to make sure all parties understand the ultimate mission. For instance, risk red flag can conclude that advance measures should be taken based on one’s health circumstances. Best presented by, Kavaler & Alexandra (2014), “One or more “red flags” in connection with a patient’s care should alert healthcare providers to take actions to remedy the situation (p. 11).” It’s vital that, each patient has an update chart and remedy towards the given health condition. The doctors, nursing staff, and other medical professional should be knowledgeable on the patient health. For patients that have

For wounds that expose body tissue, cover with a non-sticky dressing like moistened gauze or plastic. Use adhesive tapes or elastic wrap to secure the cover.

Harm reduction expects to keep individuals safe and minimize deaths, illness, and harm from high hazard conduct and involves different support services and strategies to enhance the knowledge, skills, resources to promote safer behavior in communities (BC Centre for Disease Control, 2013). One of the harm reduction strategy could be reducing exposure when working with cancer-causing products and avoiding products with cancer-causing ingredients. By using safer alternatives at home, and if not possible sometimes, then reading labels about how to use the home cleaners or other supplies safely. In other words, following safety rules when working with chemicals (such as pesticides) and asking for information and protective equipment when working

Safety is important in the nursing field, not just for the resident but also for the care givers.

Diacetyl is a chemical that is often used for adding flavor to various food products. The chemical is safe while consume but it was distinguished that workers who have direct contact with diacetyl on regular basis become having health complications or it resulted in having disability. The article entitled “Diacetyl: exposures and controls” written by Lori Schroth specifies the issues that exist around diacetyl. The exposure of workers to diacetyl is still a problem in industry but with the regulations that were introduced by OSHA, NIOSH and American Conference of Governmental Industrial the workers become more protected. The various steps were introduced to establish exposure limits. The industrial hygienist plays critical role in controlling

1. As a nurse working directly with patients we have to be aware of our legal responsibilities. We are responsible for providing safe and competent care to our patients. We also must know what falls within the scope of practice for our particular license that we hold. There are also various regulations within the state that your license is held. I feel that two of the biggest legal issues that a nurse may face is malpractice and negligence. Malpractice is sometimes referred to as professional negligence as it concerns professional actions and is the failure of a person with professional education and skills to act in a reasonable and prudent manner. Yoder, pg.72-73. Negligence denotes conduct that is lacking in care and typically concerns

Listed below are two websites that I utilize to keep myself up to date with new research and studies that are being utilized in todays medicine. These websites help me to not only better promote the over all health of my patients but teaches me how to better educate my patients on disease prevention.

The following five questions will be worth a total of 25 points at 5 points each (check spelling and grammar).

Globally, approximately 11 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually. This number is expected to increase due to the growth in the years to come due to the increase in the aging population that is susceptible to the development of cancer, an increase in exposure to these carcinogens and an increase in the general world population (Connor & McDiarmid, 2006). These will ultimately result in the high exposure of the nurses to these drugs; the effect of which is dangerous to their overall health. Though safety measure exists, very few nurses adhere to these measures promptly and at all times. Hence, a study of the safe handling of the antineoplastic drugs and security measures to reduce exposure to their hazardous effects and an education

This article was found from the Patient Safety America. The need for promoting quality of care and patient safety becomes even more critical when we have to consider the alarming of how many people are dying due to malpractice. According to Patient Safety America (2013), the total number of Americans dying from medical errors is around 400,000 each year. Besides cancer and heart disease, medical errors have become the third leading cause of death in the United States each year. It is important to understand the role of the nurse practitioners in patient care management today. “Research suggests that NPs can perform many primary care services as well as physicians do and achieve equal or higher patient satisfaction rates among their patients”

Nurses are more prone to acquire disease, because of coming in direct contact with the patients. They are exposed to various kinds of disease from their patients. The disease could be Blood Borne, Air Borne or from Contact. According to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 44% of nurses are exposed to Blood and other bodily secretions from the patients. There are chances of nurses getting these diseases by coming in contact with blood or bodily secretions except sweat of the patients for example an accidental needle stick or if the nurse has open skin and the infected blood or bodily secretion from the patient comes in direct contact with that open skin or it comes in direct contact with the nurses eyes.

Additional risk factors include vascular disease, fractures, penetrating wounds, advancing age, diabetes mellitus, HIV, malignancy, long-term steroid use, and increasing use of indwelling devices (Graham, Fishlock, Milner, & Sandoe, 2013).

Hospitals and other health care facilities have been forced to reduce operating expenses since the financial crisis of 2007 (Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, 2015). Many resorted to reducing costs via reductions in staff. While this solution seems valuable on the surface, the unintended consequences are varied and far-reaching. Hospitals with low nurse staffing levels tend to have higher rates of poor patient outcomes such as pneumonia, shock, cardiac arrest, and urinary tract infections, according to research funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) (Stanton, 2004). Many such studies exists, yet, the problem persists. Perhaps, a qualitative research study could prove to be the catalyst needed to drive change.