This essay will cover a single shift in an aged care facility. The allocation of patient’s leads to the discovery that 91 yr. old Mabel Hetherington has been incontinent of faeces, she is also reporting abdominal discomfort. Soon after this it is reported to the Nurse in charge another patient has stomach cramps, and diarrheas meaning we now possibly have an outbreak of gastroenteritis. Action must be put into place, including a review of protocol, education, hygiene management, continual evaluation, and risk assessment and most importantly the establishment of infection control precautions. Taking into consideration this is an aged care facility the possibility that this may become life threatening or a nutritional risk is increased. Correct documentation will be essential for both legal reasons and at hand over. The end of shift, reflection will show that proticol has provided you to establish best practice, also built your knowledge base.
Although Mabel has been incontinent of faeces we can see by her care plan that she is normally continent, Mabel is concerned that she may be stigmatized as being dirty and is very embarrassed (Smith, N., and Scrub, T. 2013). Gastroenteritis is suspected and there are many side effects as per evidence based research to this (Schub, E., and Schub, T. 2013). There is a risk of perianal dermatitis and infection, therefore it is important to get Mabel bathed as soon as possible (Schub, E., and Schub, T. 2013). It is essential to gather all items required in preparation, including appropriate personal protection equipment (PPE), and a mask to reduce the risk of airborne pathogens being transmitted, is of high importance, Other items such as towels, soap and clean clothing should be collected (Potter, P. A., & Perry, A. G. 2009). Mabel should be assisted, but primarily encouraged to clean herself, this will give the registered nurse the opportunity to carry out an assessment of the severity of the diarrhea, collecting data such as consistency, amount, frequency and a stool sample may be collected to establish responsible pathogen (Smith, N., and Scrub, T. 2013). Through this process care has been provided to ensure that Mabel is hygienically clean, she has maintained her dignity and independence as much as possible (Greenwood, J., 1946. 2000). The Nurse in charge reports of another case where the patient has complained of stomach cramps and diarrhea, the aged care facility now has two (2) cases present in less than a 24 hour period, therefore classing this as an outbreak, and all staff should review the unit pacific protocol to be sure best practice is followed (Gastro-info outbreak coordinator’s handbook (n.d.). A systematic approach must be taken as to ensure the safety of all involved, to control the outbreak and restricting further patients suffering the same symptoms (Gastro-info outbreak coordinator’s handbook (n.d.).
Infection Control in a case of gastroenteritis is of extreme priority as it is highly contagious, especially in a contained environment such as an aged care facility, Gastroenteritis also has the possibility of becoming life threatening due to dehydration (Smith, N., and Scrub, T. 2013). Once confirmed by pathogen, an outbreak of gastroenteritis becomes a notifable condition, reportable to the Queensland office of Commonwealth Department of health and ageing (Gastro-info outbreak coordinator’s handbook (n.d.). High importance is to make sure that the chain of infection is broken, without the chain of infection, that is ; infectious agent, reservoir, portal of exit, mode of transport, portal of entry and host, the pathogen cannot be spread (Potter, P. A., & Perry, A. G. 2009). The environment should be taken into consideration, it must remain clean and hygienic, as most aged care facilities have single rooms, it can be easier to isolate the patient, yet for patients that share a room they should be isolated and in both cases ensured that they don’t use common areas