Systematic Steps To Prevent Illnesses: A Study Of Nursing Work Environment Case Study By Udogwu Felix

A Case Study of the working environment of Nurses working in Government Central Hospital, Warri, Delta State, Nigeria submitted to TEXILA AMERICA UNIVERSITY, COLLEGE OF NURSING Woolford Ave, Georgetown, Guyana in Candidacy for the Degree of  Bachelor of Nursing Science April, 2016

ABSTRACT: This research work highlights the strategic role nurses play in the Promoting Healthy Living by Preventing Illness. Nurses play an important role in promoting public health. Traditionally, the focus of health promotion by nurses has been on disease prevention and changing the behaviour of individuals with respect to their health.

OBJECTIVE: To identify the strategies that nursing staff uses in preventing illness while in the following wards. Male medical ward/male surgical ward, female medical/surgical ward, emergency unit and children ward of Central Hospital warri adopt in the prevention of illnesses.

METHODS: A well constructed questionnaires was used to collect data from nursing staff working in Warri Central Hospital, The highest rank Public Hospital in Warri and its environ in Delta State, 30 questionnaires was sent out to nurse working in the hospital, 26 questionnaires was returned the next day, while 4 questionnaires was not retuned because they were on off duty. The tool that was used to analyze the questionnaires was pie chart and bar chart which gave the percentage representation of their responses.

RESULTS: The result from the findings suggest that the Nurses working in the aforementioned ward face harmful health conditions in the work environment. 11% of the nurse was faced with anxiety that is caused by the management system that was set. The second set was 10% of the nurse which are faced with increase fatigue and sleepiness .9% suffers from shift work, while 8% of the nurses have been prick with used needle and sharps. All others are in the table below.

CONCLUSION: The conclusion is that most of the nurses are not aware of safe way of working and so put themselves in red line by way of contracting infectious agent from patient and working environment. The management of the hospital should begin immediate training program for the nurses and make the working environment conducive and fit for purpose

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being. Interestingly enough, health is not simply defined as just the absence of disease. Illness prevention is a system of health education programs and activities directed at protecting patients, Nurses and other persons from real or potential health threats, minimizing risk factors, and promoting healthy behaviour. Prevention can be defined as inhibiting the introduction of disease into an area, herd, or individual. Control is a more appropriate term when disease is already present. Control efforts consist of the steps taken to reduce the problem to a tolerable level.

Nurses are an integral part of clinical services and have primary responsibility for a significant proportion of patient care in most healthcare settings. As such, nurses are confronted with a variety of biological, physical, and chemical hazards during the course of performing their duties.

The level of occupational safety and health training and resources available to nurses, and the Incorporation, implementation, and use of such training and resources with management support and leadership are critical factors in preventing adverse outcomes from the occupational safety and health hazards nurses are exposed to on a daily basis.

Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities and are also one of the highest that are face with high incidence rate of illness emanating from their work environment Thus, health protection does not depend on each individual’s talent exclusively, but it also involves group systematic steps, which play a relevant role in one’s ability to become resistant to the destabilizing effects of suffering. Systematic coping steps will result from a specific form of cooperation among workers to fight against the suffering caused by work constrictions. Among these are the following: fear of accidents, anguish for not being capable of following the rhythm of work or the time limits imposed, fear of aggression from users, and fear of domination and authority exerted by the hierarchy.

In contrast, if the work organization is a source of constant, strict demands, which many workers are exposed to, the construction of defences may become unattainable, leaving them vulnerable to work adaptation. This, in its turn, would become a source of harmful pressure and a means to survive. Work, however, may also be a pleasant experience, because people are different in the way they experience work situations

Getting Sick from Communicable Diseases when protecting your patients, don’t forget about protecting yourself in working environment which are full with hazard. Needle stick Injuries

Is another Occupational health hazard that nurse’s face.OSHA estimates 5.6 million U.S. healthcare workers are at risk for accidental needle stick injuries. Meanwhile, statistics reveal that 600,000 healthcare personnel at hospitals and sub-acute facilities get a needle stick injury ever year. If you do the math, that’s 1,132 nurses getting a needle stick injury in the U.S. every day

Thus, this study purpose is to find out the systematic steps used by nursing professionals in preventing themselves against illness at work. Unmanaged stress – In a recent American Nursing Association (ANA) survey, nurses cites stress and overwork as their top safety concern (American Nurses Association, 2004).  The significance of this study is to bring to the public view some of the things nurse do that lead to illness and ways of preventing same.

The Objectives of this research work is to identify the strategies that nursing staff use to prevent illnesses. Because it is difficult to determine the response from other health care team and nurses working in private hospital, this study will limit its scope to the data collected from the response of nurses working only in central hospital warri. There are also limitations, however, within the literature. While a growing amount of evidence of occupational health hazard and risk, they are mainly exploratory studies done on small scale with limited research implications or conclusions. Jo et al. (2014)

The following chapter explores existing literature on the prevention of illness in the working environment. The literature also presents the tools currently being used in assessing the systematic steps being adopted in the prevention of illness in the hospital working environment while making use of the expert analysis of questionnaire, It also looks at the limitations, implications of the research and finally the recommendation of the study to the present nurses and future nurses who might get in touch with this project work. The outcome from the response was discussed.