Infection Control in Perioperative Environment Order Instructions: Type OF Document is PROJECT REPORT. I have chosen this project question.
How can a nurse maintain infection control and prevention in the perioperative environment?
Identify a nursing problem or issue that relates to the specialty area of practice in which you are completing your clinical placement for this unit.
Once you have identified a nursing problem/issue you will need to develop this into a question for exploration which is subject to approval by your LIC/Tutor. This question needs to be realistic in the context of your speciality clinical placement in relation to nursing practice. This question will lead you to contemporary literature. From your reading of this literature you will discover what is known or not known about your question. The information that you have gained from your reading and your observation of practice should then enable you to draw conclusions concerning your nursing question.
Infection Control in Perioperative Environment Sample Answer
Introduction
Perioperative environment maintenance will include the visual cleaning and inspection of the operation theatre’s horizontal surface and anesthetic rooms preoperatively (Ousey et al., 2015). The maintenance will also include the surgical lights, equipment, operating table, and furniture. The practice will be intraoperative to ensure that contamination is kept to the lowest level. Terminal cleaning and postoperatively practice are done after each procedure at the end of the operating lists. It is the role of the nurses to carry out preoperatively environment cleaning and also oversee the delegation of cleaning tasks in an appropriate manner (Bowlt & Gasson, 2013).
Topic Identification
The topic under study under this research will entail the investigation of the best strategies for controlling, prevention and maintenance of the preoperative environment. The topic will expound more on the effective measures adopted by the nurses in ensuring the effective prevention and control of the infections in their area of practice that is the preoperative environment (Wood et al., 2014).
Background Information
Effective prevention and control of infections must be an everyday practice that should be consistently applied by everyone. Safe working practices must be adopted regardless of the suspected or known infections. The standard precautions will efficiently access the operations or activities to be completed (Bowlt & Gasson, 2013). It is the right of every patient to be treated with respect and dignity. One way of achieving this is the effective maintenance of the preoperative environment. Standard precautions will be vital in the elimination of infection risks in the most appropriate way. The topic will explore some of the best ways to enhance the operations are done successfully enough to bring positive results (Ousey et al, 2015). The exploration will be made possible through the collection of information and the necessary data from the various sources.
The scope of the Report
The scope of the report will focus on the adherence of the measures that will ensure long-term maintenance of the preoperative environment. The scope of the practices in which the report will concentrate on will be based on the adherence to the standard precautions by the nurses in the maintenance of the pre-operatively environment (Sallasa et al, 2014). Identification of the principles that emphasize the appropriate practices performed by the nurses at their place of the work as they try to reduce the risks of infections will be essential.
Literature Review (Synopsis of the Articles/Journals)
According to the article inter-operative nursing care article, the main goal of the nurses in this field will entail the safeguarding the rights of patients for the best surgical outcomes (Kelvered et al, 2012). The environment and health are the main focus while carrying out individualized nursing care procedures. The nurses ensure patients safety through maintenance of the aseptic environment, checking the amount of sterile equipment and also observing the position of the patients. It is also essential to monitor circulation and fluid losses in the patients. The introduction of the WHO checklist will promote the teamwork in the surgical team especially the preoperative safety check (Kelvered et al, 2012).
In the journal patient culture and patient’s safety, evidence reviewed for the report credits the work and efforts of the nurses in the maintenance of the preoperative environment despite the many threats to the patient safety. Mitigation of errors will be the basis for the efficient performance of tasks in the theatre. The implementation of the evidence-based for reducing the surgical related infections e.g. the central-line associated bloodstream infections will be crucial in the prevention and control of infections in the pre-operatively environment. The vigilance by the nurses is needed in many tasks to reduce the errors that mostly affect the patients under their care. According to (Ulrich & Kear, 2014) the nurses also need to be proactive as they perform the maintenance tasks to cultivate a patient safety culture which will highly reduce the high prevalence of the infections occurring in the preoperative environment.
In the journal Nurses perception of standardized assessment, it is essential for nurses to have the positive perception that would help them in observance of the procedural standards for controlling and prevention of infection arising in the pre-operative environment. The nurses are supposed to carry out exposure prone procedures in their tasks. Provision of the sufficient evidence confirming that the nurses have no infections is vital. The evidence concerning their immunity should also be presented by the nurses as they seek to start their mission ineffective maintenance of the preoperative area from the various infections (Soh et al, 2013). Maintenance of personal hygiene by the nurses will be vital as they play a major role in influencing the environment. The nurses ought to wear the theatre attire to minimize the transfer of the microorganisms from the skin, mucous membrane to the patient from the surgical team.
Data Collection Methods
Data collection will be essential in the acquisition of important information regarding the project. Critical observation was made from the local health centers that have implemented these measures and practices as proposed by the journals. An integrative literature review was undertaken to collect information. The use of questionnaires and conducting interviews will be necessary for the data collection process. The main interviewees will be some of the patients and families that have undergone the theatre operations or had any experience concerning the preoperative environment (Sallasa et al., 2014). The questioners to access the effectiveness of the practices in reducing the infections risks as confirmed by the nurses and other health workers will be used to collect information. The documented sources will be used as materials to obtain data about the previous practices that were effective in reducing the risks of infections. The study methods carried out earlier before this research, also were also adopted as sources of the study that is vital information for the project (Salassa et al, 2014). The books and journals will also be used as materials for collecting information concerning the appropriate standard procedures for maintenance of the preoperative environment. The methods of collecting the data were reliable and valid in nature which facilitated the effective acquisition of data from a large number of respondents (Galor et al., 2013). The data can also be used to carry out statistical tests to a show effectiveness of results.
It is important to replicate the project that promotes the adherence of the procedures and strict observance of the standard procedures by the nurses. Similar projects have shown positive results after their implementation (Farthing et al., 2013). Assessment of the results from the project also approves the adoption of the project. In this case, the experiment project can be replicated in future projects.
Results
The results acquired after the implementation of the project indicate positive outcomes. The operation related infections have reduced immensely as indicated by the statistics provided by some of the healthcare centers where the project measures were implemented. The infections have reduced from 15% to 10%.The maintenance of hygiene; sterilization and appropriate handling of surgical equipment have been found to be most effective in the control and prevention of infections in the preoperative environment.
Discussion of observation/Conclusion
According to the results of the project after critical assessment, the adherence to the standards and procedures of maintenance will be effective in reducing infections. These measures will require the commitment of all nurses and support of the other health workers (Farthing et al, 2013). These results will approve the importance of hygiene as key in prevention and control of infections. In my area, statistics provided by the various health centers credits the adherence to standards of procedural by nurses as practice that should be adopted for the effective maintenance of the infections in the pre-operative area. The method used in acquiring the results has its main limitation that is the acceptance rate and to be approved as most effective. These results will be applied in areas with high prevalence of infections in the preoperative environment.
Nurses should comply with glove procedure, gown and also the surgical rub requirements whenever working in the theatre environment. Adherence to the hygiene policy is crucial for observance by all the nurses as it helps in reduction of infection risks. Sterile field maintenance observed by the nurses will ensure safe preoperative experience by the nurses (Wood et al, 2014). Safe transportation of endoscopes to the containers by the nurses should be ensured. The endoscopes should be stored in designated places. Disinfection and cleaning of endoscopy policies should be enhanced by the nurses working in the preoperative environment to reduce the contaminations and risks of infections (Wood et al, 2014)
Infection Control in Perioperative Environment References
Bowlt, K., & Gasson, J. (2013). Perioperative infection control. Companion Animal, 18(2), 22-27.
Farthing, M. S. N., & Reigard, R. N. (2013). Winning the Battle Against Surgical Site Infections.
Galor, A., Goldhardt, R., Wellik, S. R., Gregori, N. Z., & Flynn, H. W. (2013). Management strategies to reduce risk of postoperative infections. Current ophthalmology reports, 1(4), 161-168.
Kelvered, M., Öhlén, J., & Gustafsson, B. Å. (2012). Operating theatre nurses’ experience of patient-related, intraoperative nursing care. Scandinavian Journal Of Caring Sciences, 26(3), 449-457. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6712.2011.00947.xs
Ousey, K. J., Edward, K. L., Lui, S., Stephenson, J., Duff, J., Walker, K. N., & Leaper, D. J. (2015). Perioperative warming therapy for preventing surgical site infection in adults undergoing surgery. The Cochrane Library.
Salassa, T. E., & Swiontkowski, M. F. (2014). Surgical attire and the operating room: role in infection prevention. The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, 96(17), 1485-1492.
Soh, K. L., Davidson, P. M., Leslie, G., Digiacomo, M., & Soh, K. G. (2013). Nurses’ perceptions of standardised assessment and prevention of complications in an ICU. Journal Of Clinical Nursing, 22(5/6), 856-865. doi:10.1111/jocn.12017
Ulrich, B., & Kear, T. (2014). Patient Safety and Patient Safety Culture: Foundations of Excellent Health Care Delivery. Nephrology Nursing Journal, 41(5), 447-457.
Wood, A. M., Moss, C., Keenan, A., Reed, M. R., & Leaper, D. J. (2014). Infection control hazards associated with the use of forced-air warming in operating theatres. Journal of Hospital Infection, 88(3), 132-140.
