Homework Question on Transmission-based precautions
The Registered Nurse arrives to begin the shift on a busy medical-surgical floor and discovers the other RN scheduled to work has called in sick. The patient census is 30. Two unlicensed assistive personnel (UAP) have been assigned to the unit. The RN is responsible for administering all patients’ medications during the shift. One of the patients, who is very ill, requires the use of transmission-based precautions for chicken pox. The RN approaches the room to administer the medication, notes the sign about the type of transmission-based precaution for this patient and thinks “I don’t need to use a gown and mask”. The RN enters the patient’s room and hangs the intravenous medication. Upon leaving the RN thinks “See I was only in there less than 5 minutes and no harm done. The greater good is I can get the other medications out to patients that need them now.”
Using the assigned readings and information from the literature, compose a response to the following:
Consider the chain of infection and risk vs. benefit as you respond.
- What are the implications of the RN’s actions?
- Are there any justifications to support the RN’s actions? Explain.
- Write a nursing diagnosis statement appropriate for this patient. Include a corresponding outcome and two (2) nursing interventions that support the nursing diagnosis.
Homework Answer on Transmission-based precautions
Transmission-based precautions refer to the additional precautions taken in health care settings to prevent and control the spread of infections from patients known or suspected to be infected with infectious agents to other patients that are not yet infected with the same. It is the responsibility of every health care personnel to adhere to transmission-based precautions in place (Heymann & American Public Health Association, 2008).
For the case at hand, the RN fails to adhere to the transmission-based precautions for chicken pox, which is an airborne disease, and thus, the implication of the RN’s actions is that she and other patients in the health care setting are likely to contract chicken pox (Heymann & American Public Health Association, 2008). The latter remains infectious over long distances when suspended in the air, and thus, by getting into the patient’s room without a mask or gown, the RN must have contracted the disease.
As she goes to provide treatment to other patients, it is highly likely that the virus will be transmitted to other patients as well.From a healthcare point of view, the RN’s actions cannot be supported, and she and others in the field ought to realize the need of adhering to set transmission-based precautions.