Developing a Comprehensive Hospital Response Plan for Communicable Disease Outbreaks- An Infection Control Perspective
Communicable Disease Justification and Evidence
Outbreaks of infectious diseases have been attributable to the disruption of global stability. Past decades have seen a considerable rise in infectious disease outbreaks, the impact of which is evident in the deterioration and near collapse of various health systems across the globe (Scarpino & Petri, 2019). Infectious disease outbreaks remain a global health issue and are currently part of WHO agendas. Notable infectious disease outbreaks witnessed in the recent past include the Ebola virus, COVID-19, HIV/AIDS, and measles, among others. Most of these diseases are viral in origin, and their high transmissibility between humans explains why they pose considerable risk to public health. This paper seeks to explore COVID-19 as an established infectious disease, emphasizing a response plan that may be necessary for curtailing its dangerous effects on the general population.
COVID-19 is a disease that is responsible for the ongoing global pandemic. It is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory coronavirus (SARS-COV2) (Yang et al., 2020). This disease is highly contagious and is transmitted primarily by respiratory droplets containing this highly transmissible virus. The disease was first identified in Hubei province, China, in 2019 and has since grown to become a global pandemic. It has produced catastrophic effects on global demographics and has been implicated in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current data, as adopted from the Johns Hopkins University database, suggest that this disease has claimed over 5 million lives worldwide with over 300 million cases.
COVID-19 causes various effects on the human body. Hospitalizations and consequent mortality attributed to COVID-19 are often due to acute respiratory distress evident in covid pneumonia (Yang et al., 2020). The rapid dissemination of this disease has resulted in an exponential increase in the number of infections in many countries. Various healthcare systems across many countries have been overstretched and, in some instances, overwhelmed by the rising number of cases (Blumenthal et al., 2020). Substantial progress has, however, been made in the COVID-19 research. With the isolation of the virus and subsequent clinical research on its presentation, the pathophysiology of the virus, as well as its clinical symptomatology, has adequately been understood. Vaccines have also been developed to curtail its spread and thereby minimize the effects of the virus.
The virus has, however, continued to wreak havoc across various health systems worldwide. The emergence of mutant strains and continued outbreaks across many nationalities means that the world is still under an active threat of the virus. This, therefore, necessitates the establishment of a concrete response plan to further curtail the spread of the virus as well as to minimize the potential socioeconomic effects that have been characteristic of the pandemic. Healthcare providers, being at the frontlines in the battle against COVID-19, maintain a central role in the establishment of this response plan. Nurses, in particular, are critical in care provision due to the increased demands of patients presenting with COVID-19 complications. It is for this reason that a nurse-specific response plan needs to be established to enhance their effectiveness in caring for these patients and to ensure their participation in curtailing the spread of this disease.
Response Plan
The establishment of an elaborate response plan is key to the mitigation of various public health concerns. An effective response plan should be able to identify the major response areas as well as institute a framework to which these response areas are adequately addressed. A COVID-19 response plan should be focused on logistics, triage, control of COVID-19 infection, human resource mobilization, and definition of responsibilities when necessary. Additionally, this response plan should focus on infrastructural support, the provision of evidence-based decision-making tools to guide pharmacotherapeutic approaches to disease intervention, and the mitigation of the impacts of this disease.
Logistical support remains a key area in managing COVID-19. Logistical support entails efforts made by authorities to ensure that everyone has access to COVID-19 screening and testing as well as access to hospitals in case they need it. The COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized by marked increases in hospitalizations, with many states reaching their maximum bed capacities. Many hospitals have been overwhelmed by the increasing number of patients. This problem was especially worse at the beginning of the pandemic. However, interventions from both the state and federal governments have considerably improved the responsibilities of the healthcare systems to these unprecedented events, as evident in increased numbers of ICU beds, increased number of healthcare providers, and an increased number of hospital resources required to combat this disease. With the emergence of mutant variants such as the delta and omicron strains that are more contagious than the preceding strains, the healthcare system in the US is better poised to handle the outbreaks than it was at the beginning of the pandemic.
Triage is also critical in the overall management of the COVID-19 pandemic. Triage entails the establishment of appropriate protocols and locations to which disease screening, testing, and management are done. The CDC outlines the various testing points across all states in the US. Vaccination points are listed, as well as the eligibility criteria for bot testing and vaccination. These steps are targeted at early disease detection and consequent curtailment of disease spread. The CDC also established measures that are targeted at minimizing the spread of the disease and also those that ensure the protection of healthcare providers. Measures such as vaccinations, social distancing in closed spaces, and isolation of infected individuals adequately minimize the spread of COVID-19. Healthcare providers are urged to get their vaccinations promptly and are even currently required to have their booster shots to ensure that they are protected from the virus.
Human resources remain significant in the fight against COVID-19. Mobilization of more healthcare providers remains key in ensuring quality care provision to COVID 19 patients. The management of the available human resources is also crucial in enhancing the efficiency of care provision. Staff scheduling is therefore necessary in this regard to prevent an eventual burnout attributable to longer working shifts. Hospital departments also have a role to play. Their primary responsibility is to ensure that their members are available to work by enhancing their welfare and protecting them from contracting COVID-19. In this regard, they should ensure early detection of the disease to cut horizontal transmission, provide personal protective equipment to minimize their contact with the disease, provide required medical tools necessary for managing covid symptoms, and carry out routine disinfection of work surfaces to minimize the spread of the disease (Dewey et al., 2020). All these measures will ensure the reduction of COVID-19 incidence among healthcare providers and thus make them available for care provision services.
Nurses Ability
Nurses form a critical component of the healthcare system. Their role in patient handling and care delivery makes them spend considerably more time with the patients compared to other members of the healthcare delivery team. They are, therefore, better poised in the detection of symptoms consistent with COVID 19 that may not have been picked by other members of the healthcare delivery teams (Halcomb et al., 2020). Additionally, nurses are capable of identifying patterns of disease presentation that are consistent with an outbreak.
Nursing education equips nurses with fundamentals of disease presentation, etiology, and pathophysiology of various diseases. This knowledge is important in the early identification of diseases with the potential for pandemics or epidemics. Additionally, this training equips nurses with the various public health measures necessary for disease containment and treatment. Understanding how diseases spread and the etiologies of various diseases is crucial in this regard. This knowledge ensures that nurses can adopt the various measures that are necessary for curtailing the spread of the diseases. It also equips nurses with treatment intervention strategies that may be able to save patient lives in these events. Nurses often communicate their observations to the relevant public health agencies upon suspicion of a public health concern. Their knowledge of the possible public health threats of various infectious diseases warrants them to be the healthcare system’s mouthpiece in communicating hospital presentations that are of concern to public health.
Hospital Response Plan
The following highlights the COVID-19 response plan for Akron Community Hospital. Initial COVID-19 screening will be initiated for all the healthcare workers within the hospital. All patients are also required to undergo mandatory screening for covid 19 symptoms. Covid testing is mandated for those in contact with positive and suspected cases. Those who test positive for the disease are required to undergo a mandatory self-isolation as per the CDC guidelines and are only allowed back to work upon confirmation of a negative test. All healthcare workers within the hospital will be required to have one of the FDA-approved Covid vaccines that are freely offered by the hospital. Those who have not been vaccinated for whatever reasons will be expected to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols provided by the CDC. Booster doses of the vaccine will be available to healthcare workers for those who meet the eligibility criteria.
Infectious diseases remain a concerning global health issue. Infectious disease outbreaks have increased in the recent past, as evidenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has been implicated in considerable morbidity and mortality. A concrete response plan is necessary for the curtailment of this disease. The COVID-19 response plan encompasses logistical considerations for this disease, human resources, and infection control, among others. Focusing on these aspects may provide considerable significance in minimizing the deleterious effects of this disease. Nurses, being on the frontlines in the battle against this disease, should be able to assess, identify, and facilitate timely communication regarding the virus and thereafter design a response plan utilizable in curtailing the spread of the virus.
References
Blumenthal, D., J. Fowler, E., Abrams, M., & R. Collins, S. (2020). Covid-19 — Implications for the Health Care System. New England Journal Of Medicine, 383(17), 1698-1698. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmx200018
Cascella M, Rajnik M, Aleem A, et al. Features, Evaluation, and Treatment of Coronavirus (COVID-19) [Updated 2021 Sep 2]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2021 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK554776/
Coronavirus. Who.int. (2022). Retrieved 9 January 2022, from https://www.who.int/health-topics/coronavirus.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022). Retrieved 9 January 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
Dewey, C., Hingle, S., Goelz, E., & Linzer, M. (2020). Supporting Clinicians During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Annals Of Internal Medicine, 172(11), 752-753. https://doi.org/10.7326/m20-1033
Halcomb, E., McInnes, S., Williams, A., Ashley, C., James, S., & Fernandez, R. et al. (2020). The Experiences of Primary Healthcare Nurses During the COVID‐19 Pandemic in Australia. Journal Of Nursing Scholarship, 52(5), 553-563. https://doi.org/10.1111/jnu.12589
Scarpino, S., & Petri, G. (2019). On the predictability of infectious disease outbreaks. Nature Communications, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-08616-0
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Yang, L., Liu, S., Liu, J., Zhang, Z., Wan, X., & Huang, B. et al. (2020). COVID-19: immunopathogenesis and Immunotherapeutics. Signal Transduction And Targeted Therapy, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-020-00243-2
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Question 
Purpose of Assignment:
Nurses have a role in ensuring safety and quality in healthcare and evaluating potential threats to quality and safety. A response plan helps determine the steps and actions that staff will take in a situation such as a disease outbreak.
Developing a Comprehensive Hospital Response Plan for Communicable Disease Outbreaks- An Infection Control Perspective
Course Competency:
Evaluate responses to communicable diseases in healthcare today.
Scenario:
You are the infection control nurse of a 100-bed inpatient healthcare facility. Because of the increasing potential for a communicable disease outbreak in your facility, the chief clinical officer has tasked you with creating a hospital response plan.