Essentially, healthcare workers interact daily with infected patients and may get infected or even injured by various medical equipment. Semple and Cherrie (2020, p. 461) state that healthcare workers “have always had a recognized increase in the risk of developing infections present in the community where their patients are drawn.” Currently, healthcare workers are experienced working with COVID-19 patients and are at risk of this severe respiratory infection. The training is a vital element in order to protect the workers’ health. Semple and Cherrie (2020) suggest that healthcare workers should frequently wash hands, wear protective clothes, face masks, avoid touching the eyes, nose, or mouth. In addition, proper medical waste disposal helps effectively control the spread of infections (Sangham, 2020).
Moreover, healthcare workers should take heightened precautions and be aware that all patients’ blood and body fluids should be treated as potentially contagious. Consequently, appropriate precautions and measures should always be taken when handling medical instruments. In addition, sharps and needles are observed as the most high-risk group of healthcare waste for healthcare workers (World Health Organization, 2017). Therefore, contaminated needles and sharp instruments should be handled with care to avoid contracting blood-borne infections such as HIV or AIDS. For instance, workers must place all sharps and syringes in the sharps container. It is crucial to understand that workers need to avoid getting blood and other body fluids on the mucous membranes and damaged skin. It is strictly forbidden for workers to carry out medical procedures without protective gloves. Hence, I agree entirely that enhanced knowledge on infection prevention measures, proper training on usage of medical equipment, instruments, waste disposal enable workers’ health protection.
References
Sangkham, S. (2020). Face mask and medical waste disposal during the novel COVID-19 pandemic in Asia. Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, 100052.
Semple, S., & Cherrie, J. W. (2020). Covid-19: Protecting worker health. Annals of Work Exposures and Health, 16(5), 461-464. doi:10.1093/annweh/wxaa033
World Health Organization. (2017). Safe management of wastes from health-care activities: a summary (No. WHO/FWC/WSH/17.05). World Health Organization.