A Guide for the Healthcare Providers to Deal with Communicable Diseases

The count of communicable diseases that are plaguing the Indian population is increasing rapidly. This includes the diseases which were believed to be eliminated previously like cholera, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, dengue, West Nile virus, H1N1, and Nipah. This means that the number of patients that hospitals will be attending to would be increased. The reasons behind this situation are unsanitary conditions around the habitat of majority Indians, a weak immune system, and lack of nourishment in the general public.

The rate of infections is intensified with cases of hospital-acquired  infections, which is particularly high in India in relation to developed nations. The rate is alarming at one infection per four hospital visits. Usually, patients are often infected with multi-drug resistant strains of pathogens from hospitals, whose treatment is far more challenging than ordinary pathogens.

Hospital-acquired  infections can only be reduced with strict adherence to norms and protocols, and intensive training programmes for health care professionals, like infection control nurse courses. Having said that, here are some basic procedures to be observed while caring for patients with infectious diseases in hospitals:

1. Include cautious measures by using gloves, masks, eyewear, gowns, etc. especially in the circumstances involving contact with blood, bleeding lesions, tissue fluid, vaginal fluid, semen, etc.
2. Wash contaminated skin as soon as possible, and hands should also be washed after removal of gloves, before attending the next patient.
3. Puncture injuries should be avoided.
4. Mouth protection should be used during mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
5. New or sterilised equipment should be used.
6. Hospitals should be kept free of mosquitoes, pests and other vectors.
7. Patients should be taken out of their rooms only if absolutely necessary.
8. Pregnant health care workers should be doubly cautious and observant of all the disease-specific protocols.

Along with infection control nurse courses, healthcare providers should also attend courses that impart communication skills for healthcare professionals. The consortium of Accredited Healthcare Organisations (CAHO), is one such recognised non-profit organisation that strongly believes in continuously promoting, improving, and sharing the best healthcare practices across platforms. CAHO hosts various healthcare training programmes like fire safety training for hospital staff, training to deal communicable diseases, communication skills for the healthcare professional, cybersecurity training and others for the hospital staff and much more. You can visit their website to know more!

 

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