Current Communicable Disease in Healthcare Today
One current communicable disease in healthcare today is coronavirus disease (Covid-19). Covid-19 is a communicable respiratory disease caused by a new strain of coronavirus. The virus causes illness in humans. It is transmitted through direct contact with the respiratory droplets of an infected person. Some of the symptoms of Covid-19 include fever, cough, and shortness of breath. Severe Covid-19 can cause pneumonia or breathing difficulties. More rarely, the disease can be fatal. The surge in Covid-19 cases has really put to the test the nursing workforce. Due to staffing shortages, which long existed even before Covid-19, nurses continue to deal with an intensive workload of acute care patients. Due to Covid-19, nurses have found themselves in situations never seen before; nurses work for long hours with limited access to PPEs and evolving guidance on how to care for Covid-19 patients. The pandemic has also impact nurses’ emotional and psychological well-being.
How Does Healthcare Respond to this disease?
There is not currently an available vaccine for Covid-19 that is 100% effective. The healthcare sector is responding to this disease by treating its symptoms and providing early care to make the disease less dangerous. The healthcare sector has also outlined public health measures to prevent the spread of the disease. Some of these measures include washing hands, wearing masks, covering mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, and cleaning frequently touched surfaces and objects. A number of clinical trials have been conducted and are continuing to be conducted to evaluate potential therapeutics for Covid-19. Currently, there are two Covid-19 vaccines that have been authorized and recommended by WHO: Pfizer and Moderna.
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Cultural, Social, or Ethical Issues that Exist for Someone with Communicable Disease
The massive influx of Covid-19 patients has raised a number of cultural, social, and ethical issues.
Cultural Issues
The outbreak of Covid-19 has raised a number of cultural issues. The world has adopted several cultural methods of greetings, such as shaking hands and kissing on the face. However, since the outbreak of this communicable disease, a number of nations have recommended against these traditional forms of greetings (Bruns et al., 2020). In addition, religious organizations have been forced to change their practices to aid in primary prevention. For example, Christians no longer share a chalice or cups during Holy Communion (Bruns et al., 2020). Some religions have also postponed their religious holidays. For example, Jewish Purim has been postponed, and a number of mosques have stopped Friday prayers. Thus, Covid-19 has raised a number of cultural implications.
Social Issues
The spread of Covid-19 has led to systematic racism. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence of racism attacks towards Covid-19 patients and particularly against people of Asian background (UNESCO, 2020). During pandemics or crises, minority groups are often made scapegoats and are subjected to racist and violent discourses. With regard to Covid-19, the patterns of racism range from cyberbullying to physical attacks, racist trolling, and xenophobic conspiracy theories.
Ethical Issues
The Covid-19 pandemic has forced healthcare organizations to modify their admission criteria to the determinant of the most vulnerable populations. According to Robert et al. (2020), due to the scarcity of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, hospitals sacrifice the most vulnerable patients. Many hospitals prioritize Covid-19 patients who are most likely to survive the Covid-19 illness or patients who are most likely to live the longest after recovery. This shakes our ethical convictions.
Policy Statement
Organization X Covid-19 Policy Statement
Policy Brief and Purpose
Organization X takes the threat of Covid-19 seriously, and so our approach to Covid-19 is based on the guidance provided by the WHO. This policy includes the measures we are actively taking to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. You are kindly requested to follow all these rules diligently to sustain a safe workplace.
This Covid-19 policy is susceptible to change with the introduction of additional WHO guidelines. If so, we will update you as soon as possible.
Scope
This Covid-19 policy applies to all of our employees. We strongly recommend our healthcare professionals who physically work in our healthcare organization read through this policy brief.
Our Approach
We have made changes to how we operate as a result of Covid-19. We will continue to serve our clients and fulfill obligations while meeting government guidelines to ensure workplace safety. In doing this, we take into account WHO guidelines and government advice, and every employee is requested to follow these rules. Everyone is required to maintain social distancing, frequently wash hands, cover coughs and sneezes, and stay at home if infected . If an employee acquires Covid-19 (or cold) symptoms, request sick leave or request to work from home, if you are able to work.
Information Technology
The Covid-19 epidemic poses an enormous challenge to healthcare organizations. In this respect, these organizations have leveraged health information technologies for epidemic monitoring, detection, early warning, prevention and control, and other tasks (Ye et al., 2020). For example, the use of telehealth is appropriate in reducing the risk of Covid-19 transmission. This technology has been employed in healthcare to prevent direct physical contact, provide continuous care, and reduce the morbidity and mortality in Covid-19 outbreak. In addition, many organizations have educational support through information and communication technology. One such organization is the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). This organization developed the HIMSS Covid-19 Digital Think Tank, an online educational platform that allows healthcare professionals to share Covid-19-related best practices and solutions. Healthcare organizations and governments are employing data analytics tools and electronic health record systems to track Covid-19 cases and share data with public health agencies.
References
Bruns, D. P., Kraguljac, N. V., & Bruns, T. R. (2020). <? covid19?> COVID-19: Facts, Cultural Considerations, and Risk of Stigmatization. Journal of Transcultural Nursing , 31 (4), 326-332.
Robert, R., Kentish-Barnes, N., Boyer, A., Laurent, A., Azoulay, E., & Reignier, J. (2020). Ethical dilemmas due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Annals of intensive care , 10 (1), 1-9.
UNESCO. (2020). The socio-cultural implications of Covid-19. https://en.unesco.org/news/socio-cultural-implications-covid-19
Ye, Q., Zhou, J., & Wu, H. (2020). Using information technology to manage the COVID-19 pandemic: development of a technical framework based on practical experience in China. JMIR medical informatics , 8 (6), e19515.
