Tuberculosis is a serious disease that tends to spread rapidly and can be fatal. When working with patients, healthcare workers have an increased chance of contracting this infection. Therefore, preventive measures are required to avoid the spread of the disease throughout the medical facility. Sarah’s case may be an illustration of how omissions on the part of the clinic’s surveillance can lead to negative consequences. In order to solve such problems and avoid the recurrence of incidents, it is necessary to develop and implement the right personnel verification policies.
Policy Addressed to the Problem
In the first place, mandatory screening of personnel may be a necessary preventive measure. Such a precautionary measure can help identify the disease quickly and prevent its further spread. However, screening should include a tuberculin skin test (TST) or an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) (Alrajhi et al., 2020). If any of the employees show signs of infection, they will need to undergo further examination in the form of x-rays. This is necessary to determine the disease’s dangerous stage and whether it can be active. According to the implemented policy, staff will be required to be screened regularly once a year or more often, depending on the prevalence of this disease in the region.
In addition, it can be implemented within the framework of this policy, and it will be necessary to comply with standard precautions against infections. Airborne disease transmission is a dangerous risk that can be avoided if the right standards of health care are followed (Khobragade, 2019). Preliminary protection against infection should include the use of personal protective equipment such as face shields, gowns, and respirators. This protection policy also has an important provision for hygiene standards such as hand washing and keeping rooms clean. In this way, clinic staff will be able to resist bacterial diseases with increased efficiency and prevent them from spreading.
Another element of the policy being introduced in the medical institution is a privacy protection program that will allow better regulation of relations in this area. Sarah’s situation involved some issues with the dilemma of revealing her personal details and medical confidentiality in order to warn others. The new policy should provide separate privacy mechanisms for such cases. Clinic staff diagnosed with tuberculosis or any other dangerous disease should be properly informed of their privacy rights (Chauhan et al., 2021). In addition, it would be a good idea to provide them with the resources to deal with possible stigmatization and protect their privacy.
In addition to the infection and spread of disease policy, a training program for all employees could also be introduced to increase their awareness. Awareness of various conditions and manifestations of patients is one of the most important functions in the healthcare system, which makes it possible to provide appropriate courses (Mousquer et al., 2021). The staff education program should be aligned with the policy and may include all elements that will help employees comply with the new policy’s directives.
In the context of infection control, the training program should provide medical personnel with all the necessary information about tuberculosis and its spread. In this way, it will be possible to help nurses avoid accidental infections. In addition, this program will also include an overview of TB infection control measures, including standard precautions and airborne precautions. In this way, it will be possible to show and conduct training on better use of PPE, control of the environment, and hand hygiene.
An important element of the TB awareness training will also be education courses on the importance of early detection of TB. This will concern the screening that the new program provides. Testing systems such as TST and IGRA, as well as chest x-rays, can effectively detect disease (Esmail et al., 2022). This means that staff must be able to perform testing and be motivated to pass it. A large part of the staff education course will also be devoted to how to ensure their privacy in case of infection and why it is necessary to warn the manager in time.
Policies and Training Programs Appropriateness
The proposed policy and training system are appropriate for the problematic situation that occurred with Sarah for several reasons. First of all, the new policy proposes many steps that can help prevent the disease from spreading. Preventing personnel from becoming infected is one of the most effective ways to avoid the spread. For this, screening is an effective method that can prevent further illness among employees if it is detected in one. Thus, this remedy is justified because if it had been implemented earlier, then the case with Sarah might not have happened since the disease would have been detected at an early stage.
In addition to the screening program, other elements of the policy are justified as they help to prevent the disease. Ensuring personal hygiene for clinic staff can significantly affect people and become their habit, which will lead to positive results in the future. Keeping hands clean can keep healthcare workers safe and help them make the clinic a cleaner place.
The third element of the data privacy policy addresses the issue in a way that allows doctors and nurses not to worry about their information. In case of infection and detection, everyone has the right to preserve their disease. In the case of tuberculosis, it can directly pose a danger to others, so in this case, it is necessary to inform all personnel who are responsible for the sanitary situation. In this way, a better response time can be achieved, and the possible spread of the disease throughout the hospital can be prevented. In such a case, confidentiality must also be protected as it is an inalienable human right.
The appropriateness of the implementation of the training program is also explained by the fact that the employees of the medical institution must know how to properly use all the methods that are proposed in the policy. The training will be divided into several sessions, each of which must comply with a certain policy proposed so far. The relevance of this approach lies in the fact that the system elements of the new policies will not work effectively enough without explaining to employees what they are for and without education about the correct implementation of all points. In this way, motivation can be raised, enhancing the effect of new policies and education systems in the clinic.
Conclusion
It should be noted that the introduction of a new policy after an emergency with the risk of the spread of tuberculosis is a natural action. Such innovations can help the healthcare facility better deal with similar problems if they arise in the future. In addition, the developed policies are aimed at preventing a critical situation and managing it at the moment of occurrence. Screening procedures and care for personal hygiene by medical staff are excellent for this task. In addition to the new policy, it is recommended to introduce a training program that will help employees better understand the changes and motivate them to follow all procedures.
References
Alrajhi, S., Germain, P., Martel, M., Lakatos, P., Bessissow, T., Al-Taweel, T., & Afif, W. (2020). Concordance between tuberculin skin test and interferon-gamma release assay for latent tuberculosis screening in inflammatory bowel disease. Intestinal research, 18(3), 306. Web.
Chauhan, R., Kaur, H., & Chang, V. (2021). An optimized integrated framework of big data analytics managing security and privacy in healthcare data. Wireless Personal Communications, 117, 87-108. Web.
Esmail, H., Macpherson, L., Coussens, A. K., & Houben, R. M. (2022). Mind the gap–managing tuberculosis across the disease spectrum. EBioMedicine, 78, 103928. Web.
Khobragade, D. S. (2019). Health care waste: Avoiding hazards to living and non living environment by efficient management. Fortune Journal of Health Sciences, 2(2), 14-29. Web.
Mousquer, G. T., Peres, A., & Fiegenbaum, M. (2021). Pathology of TB/COVID-19 co-infection: the phantom menace. Tuberculosis, 126, 102020. Web.