Question

how do nurses play an important role when epidemics involving 5-100 people? how is the nurse useful to determine the cause of the epidemic?

Answer 1

Nurses play a significant role in public health and frequently serve in positions of responsibility at public health agencies, nonprofit groups and educational organizations. Public health nurses help the public stay healthy by assisting with the development, promotion and management of public health initiatives. Public health nursing (PHN) is dedicated to researching and implementing best practices for nurses who work in this field. PHN emphasizes preventive care and basic health education to help communities reduce disease, improve quality of life and enable more people to live healthier lives. With these goals in mind, nurses collaborate with local health departments and other organizations to provide health education, study population health changes, work on disease prevention initiatives, and coordinate similar efforts

THE ROLE OF NURSES

Today, public health nurses serve their communities in a variety of positions. Nurses in this field often serve as leaders, educators, advocates and researchers, all in addition to their nursing roles. Many public health nurses practice, study, develop and lead public health campaigns. Some also teach other nurses, other public health workers and the public at large. Some nurses serve as policy makers and craft legislation that advances the cause of health and wellness. Within local communities, nurses are also needed to teach preventive health practices so more people can live healthy, productive lives.

PHN is a rapidly changing field, reflecting improvements in nursing care, public health knowledge and scientific development. Nurses can work in PHN as generalists or they can pursue advanced education in the field and work as specialists with more significant responsibilities. Typically, PHN jobs require candidates who are flexible and capable of serving as leaders. To advance in the field, nurses should pursue additional PHN education.

Public health nursing is a field with strong opportunities. Nurses in this field work closely with local residents, businesses, governments, nonprofit organizations, researchers and other healthcare professionals to help communities become healthier. These nurses can help prevent the spread of disease by providing education, developing programs, supervising health campaigns and contributing their knowledge to public health work. PHN is continuing to change as advancements in the field allow nurses to do even more for community health

Effective communication is the key to successful healthcare team. Nurses communicate with physicians, nutritionists, physiotherapists, patients, families and many others. Communication takes place through body language, touch, listening, writing, reading and if necessary by speaking. New technologies such as electronic medical records and innovations such as patient bedside whiteboards have encouraged information exchange between nurses and others. However, even under the best and most stable situations, communication can breakdown.

The role of the nurse in providing physical care: During an epidemic, all usual essential tasks must be completed for the patient, but they are frequently intensified. Having a large surge of very ill patients puts a stress on the entire health care system. Also, many of the procedures that nurses initiate (such as deep breathing and coughing, assisting with bronchoscopy, intubation/ extubation cardiopulmonary resuscitation, taking sputum samples, and suctioning) may be the method of aerosolization of coronavirus [11].

In the case of the MERS-CoV epidemic, patients with and without confirmed cases of the virus had to be carefully monitored. Nurses were providing medications to address symptoms and monitoring input and output to assess for potential renal failure, there were no effective medications available to treat MERs-CoV specifically. All confirmed and probable cases had to be cared for while nurses upheld airborne precautions.

2- In the event of outbreaks of infectious diseases, the role of the nurse changes to adapt to the needs of the patient, their families, and the hospital. Articulating the changes in the nurses’ role is helpful for communicating a plan to decrease the spread of disease and for implementing improved policies, procedures, and supplies. Objective: This article outlines the reflections made by a team of nurses on how roles changed during the recent Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Corona Virus (MERS-CoV) epidemic.

Design: A survey was used to ask nurses about their roles and how they changed asthey worked with MERS-CoV patients during the height of the epidemic in Saudi Arabia.

Participants: The nurse researchers interviewed 9 critical care nurses about their past experiences with MERS-CoV patients.

Main outcome: The nurses identified areas that need to be improved in preparation for future epidemics.

Conclusion: The importance of communication during these complex outbreaks is considered. Much of the experience gleaned from this incident can be used to guide future practice in epidemics of MERS-CoV and other infectious diseases.