Jennifer Holder Unit 9: The principles of infection prevention and control. Understand the roles and responsibilities in the prevention and control of infection: 1.1 Employee's are responsible for numerous things in relation to the control and prevention of infection. It is the employee's responsibility to ensure that they protect themselves, colleagues, patients and visitors from infection by adhering to infection control policies. Employee's should always wear the correct personal protective equipment (PPE) for the duty in which they are undertaking and ensuring proper disposal of this PPE as well as infective material or other clinical waste. Ensuring that they have good hand hygeine techniques is also very important when it comes to the prevention and control of infection.
There are a number of ways that personnel’s can prevent and control infection in a health and social care setting. Personnel’s in a health and social care setting include , nurses , Doctors, cleaners, nursery assistants and nursery teachers. Nurses should thoroughly wash and dry their hands before and after caring for a patient, before and after touching any potentially contaminated equipment or dressings, after bed making and before handling food. Their hands can be washed with soap and water or, a fast-acting antiseptic solution like a hand wipe or hand gel. They should also wear Disposable gloves when physical contact with open wounds, for example when changing dressings, handling needles or inserting an intravenous drip.
I would ensure that the residents would be presentable in their appearance at all times. Additionally I would ensure that the service user have any aids that are required for examples, glasses, hearing aids, dentures and that these are kept cleaned and work. Another role that I would have within the care home would be to assist the service users in rehabilitation activities under guidance and supervision of the manager. I would also have the responsibility of assisting in the cleaning of the home when needed especially the dining areas after meals. I would also support infection control by cleaning up any spills immediately.
CU2941- Use and develop systems that promote communication. 1, Be able to address the range of communication requirements in own role. Review the range of groups and individuals whose communication needs must be addressed in own job role. Defining communication: ‘Communication involves the reciprocal process in which messages are sent and received between two or more people’ (Bazler Riley, 2008) My job role requires me to be able to communicate in many ways, the client group I care for have individual communication needs. The elderly clients I care for generally have ill health, the illnesses they suffer from can be physical and mental.
Unit 21: The Principles of Infection Prevention and Control |Link to Learning Outcome |Question |Answer | |Unit 21.1.1 |Explain employees’ roles and |Infection is a major cause of human suffering. Even relatively | | |responsibilities in |minor infections can become more serious, leading to major | | |relation to the prevention and control of|infection and can, in some cases, lead to patient death. In | | |infection (at least 3) |addition to patient suffering, infection causes distress to family | | | |and friends. | | | |Employees in the work place have a responsibility in relation to | | | |the prevention and control of infection. They also have a personal | | | |and moral responsibility, as workers in a care home and society.
HSC 24 Principles of safeguarding and protection in Health and Social Care 1.1 & 1.2 Define the different types of abuse & identify the signs and symptoms There are many different types of abuse which happen in the health and social care setting. People need to use care services as they may have been abused, neglected or exploited in the past. As a care worker it is our job to be concerned and to offer care and protection to these people. It is sad to say; however, sometimes it is the care worker who becomes the person responsible for neglect and exploitation. They misuse their power of trust and use the influence they have on the individual.
Many in our care have also got weakened immune systems and as a consequence are more susceptible to infection from the outset. We want to give the patients in our care the best treatment and quality of care possible and this would not be possible without infection control. Were we to neglect patient control their quality of life and indeed health would deteriorate, they would get sick and suffer and in extreme cases would die. This runs totally contrary to the attitudes, duties and commitments we hold so dear as healthcare workers. In this assignment I will introduce, explain and discuss one of the most topical worldwide infections in the workplace – mainly hospitals and other places of healthcare environment; MRSA.
[019.1] Understand roles and responsibilities in the prevention and control of infections 1.1) Explain employees’ roles and responsibilities in relation to the prevention and control of infection: As employees, it is our responsibility to take precautionary measures to prevent and control the possible spread of disease within our work place environment. Employees are to strictly adhere to company policies and procedures as well as that of the local authority and understand several legislation regarding the prevention and control of infection. This generally should involve working safely to protect ourselves, other staff, service users and the public from infection. Employees should put in a safe way of working such as always washing their hands, not coming to work if we feel unwell, ensure the proper use protective equipment at all time while working. 1.2) Explain employers’ responsibilities in relation to the prevention and control of infection Employers have the responsibility of ensuring the safety of our work place in such a way that is protects members of staff and the public from infection.
The work environments needs to be clean and accessible to all those within the workplace Deep cleaning is required should there be an infection outbreak, in this instance cleaning chemicals and recommended detergents needs to be used. It is important that all workers are adequately trained and aware of their responsibilities in regards to maintaining a clean and safe work environment Explain the purpose of cleaning schedules the purpose of having a cleaning schedule is that it informs staff, clients and visitors what has been cleaned and when, how often cleaning should be done and what chemicals have been used and should be used. Describe how the correct management of the environment minimises the spread of infection Using the cleaning schedule is an important factor in this as it lays out what should be done and when, also, making use of cleaning equipment and maintaining hand hygiene minimises the risk of infection. Describe how the correct management of the environment minimises the spread of infection In order to minimise the risk of infection, staff need to adhere to the cleaning schedule that outlines all that needs to be done. Also For staff to wash their hands at regular intervals and make use of any environmental cleaning equipment.
There is an array of health and safety regulation and codes of practice that apply to people at work. There are regulations dealing with specific activities, such as using screens and keyboards (the Display Equipment Regulations 1992) or working with dangerous materials (the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 - known as the COSHH Regulations), as well as many others, Personal Protective Equipment at work Regulation 1992.Specific requirements covering the workplace itself are given in the Workplace (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, The Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974, The Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992. The main principles are in the care setting: • To protect the safety of service users and improve the quality of care they receive. • Take a proportionate approach, based on assessment of the risk of harm, the quality of care and evidence of non-compliance with the