Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Syphilis

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Sexually Transmitted Diseases: Syphilis

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted bacterial infection by having sexual intercourses with an infected person. It is caused by a spirochete bacterium called

Treponema Pallidum

. It can be transmitted through blood transfusions, as well as throughout pregnancy. Another way it can be transmitted is through skin contact especially if there are any breaks in the skin or on the mucous membranes. A person who is not affected can then become infected because of the infection that they just encounter. If this disease is left untreated, syphilis can escalate to sequential stages. The sequential stages of syphilis are primary, secondary, and tertiary. To even further complications in the body that affect the cardiovascular and neurological system as well as causing blindness. If syphilis is catch early, it can be treatable and curable.

The primary stage is caused by a nonpainful chancre usually consist of one or more lesions. If pregnant then the site of infection will be intravaginally caused by sexual intercourse. Congenital transmission can affect both perinatal and neonatal care. If mother doesn’t take care of the fetus then it will cause neurological and musculoskeletal impairments as well as fetal death. According to Advances in Neonatal Care (2018) states, that most maternal and CS infections were noticed in the Western and Southern States. With a shockingly 42.3% increase in cases of CS (2012-2016) in the West.

However, If the person doesn’t take care of the chancre in the primary stage then it can progress to a secondary stage. In this stage the chancre would develop to a maculopapular rash that will appear on different locations of the body. The body locations are seen in the palms of the hands, soles of the feet, sores in genitals, anus, or mouth. Followed by clinical manifestations for having the maculopapular rash such as fever, malaise, lymphadenopathy, and myalgia. Moving on to the Tertiary stage, the infection will remain dormant for a while with no signs of symptoms. This means the infection can be life threading and lead to multiorgan failure and damage. These life threading comorbidities would be tumors of the skin, bones, and in the liver. According to Advances in Neonatal care (2018) states if appear in the liver this can be lesions caused by an inflammatory response to the treponemes. More Complications in the tertiary are neurological which include meningovascular and parenchymatous damage and neurosyphilis. As signs and symptoms are described as irritation, insomnia, memory loss, as well personality changes. Tertiary stage also affects the cardiovascular system to having aortic aneurysm with aortic regurgitation (Rowe, Newberry & Jnah, 2018, p 440).

Additionally, as mentioned earlier this disease is primarily transmitted through sexual intercourse. Other ways that this can be transmitted is by having multiple sex partners, oral sex, anonymous sex, victim of an abusive relationship, and HIV infection (Caple & Karakashian 2018, p 2).  According to the Journal for Nurse Practitioners (2015), Gay men, bisexual men, or heterosexuals (MSM) are categorized to be in the highest risk for having a syphilis infection (Elsevier, 2015, p 49).  People in the ages of twenty through twenty-nine rank as the highest to have primary and secondary syphilis (Caple & Karakashian, 2018, p 1). People who have syphilis come from low socioeconomic status, practice unsafe sex, lack treatment during pregnancy, and are uninsured to medical care. Some individuals may not be educated on sexual transmitted diseases and don’t understand how critical it is to wear protection barriers during intercourse. Another issue is lack of insurance to prevent people from seeking or getting treatment.

Furthermore, laboratory findings used as a diagnosis for syphilis are visualization of

Treponema Pallidum

and a serological test. For the visualization of

Treponema Pallidum,

a dark-field microscopy is used to detect the disease. As for the serological test

Treponema Pallidum

antibodies include the fluorescent treponemal antibody absorbed (FTA-ABS) test. The

Treponema Pallidum

drop of agglutination(TPPA) test is based on serology results being negative with patients with tertiary syphilis (Caple & Karakashian, 2018, p 3). Some alert indications can be detected if a patient has a reaction to Penicillin to cause Jarisch-Herxheimer. Since penicillin is used to treat all the stages of syphilis. Jarisch-Herxheimer causes an acute febrile reaction with symptoms such as chills, myalgia, tachycardia, headache, increased respiratory rate, and hypertension within 24 hours of treatment (Caple & Karakashian, 2018, p 3). This is more common in patients in primary and secondary stages of syphilis.

When treating syphilis patients, one must monitor vital signs, assess all physiological systems, and review laboratory results to identify any changes. If changes due occur notify the physician as well as following the prescribed treatment as indicated. If a person is in primary, secondary, and early tertiary a single of dose of antibiotics can be used to treat the patient (Caple & Karakashian, 2018). If the patient is in tertiary stage, then an increase of antibiotics is given to three weekly doses. However, if a patient is allergic to penicillin, then alteration of medications is given such as doxycycline or tetracycline.

The nurse’s role is to provide emotional support and educate patients on how to practice safe sex. As well as providing screenings for syphilis with patients who start having sexual intercourses and those with multiple partners. With early detections and screenings preventions can then be measured to help if infected. As nurses it is one jobs to educate the patients on getting annual check-ups, getting screenings, and vaccinations. This disease is critical and harmful as mention earlier and if infected with syphilis one must take full action to take care of oneself.

References:


Sexually Transmitted Diseases


Retrieved from:

Caple, C. L., & Karakashian, A. L. (2018). Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases

,

45

, 1–4. doi: 10.1097/01.olq.0000544647.98472.4


Syphilis on the Rise: Diagnosis, Treatment and Prevention


Retrieved from:

Klein, J., Mclaud, M., & Rogers, D. (2015). Syphilis on the Rise: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prevention.

The Journal for Nurse Practitioners

,

11

(1), 49–55. doi: 10.1016/j.nurpra.2014.10.020


Special series: Congenital Infections


Retrieved from:

Rowe, C. R., Newberry, D. M., & Jnah, A. J. (2018). Congenital Syphilis.

Advances in Neonatal Care

,

18

(6), 438–445. doi: 10.1097/anc.0000000000000563

For questions 1-9- refer to the following passage: This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave.

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For questions 1-9, refer to the following passage:

This battle with Mr. Covey was the turning-point in my career as a slave. It rekindled the few expiring embers of freedom, and revived within me a sense of my own manhood. It recalled the departed self-confidence, and inspired me again with a determination to be free. The gratification afforded by the triumph was a full compensation for whatever else might follow, even death itself. He only can understand the deep satisfaction which I experienced, who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery. I felt as I never felt before. It was a glorious resurrection, from the tomb of slavery, to the heaven of freedom. My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed, bold defiance took its place; and

I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact. I did not hesitate to let it be known of me, that the white man who expected to succeed in whipping, must also succeed in killing me. From this time I was never again what might be called fairly whipped, though I remained a slave four years afterwards. I had several fights, but was never whipped. It was for a long time a matter of surprise to me why Mr. Covey did not immediately have me taken by the constable to the whipping-post, and there regularly whipped for the crime of raising my hand against a white man in defence of myself. And the only explanation I can now think of does not entirely satisfy me; but such as it is, I will give it. Mr. Covey enjoyed the most unbounded reputation for being a first-rate overseer and negro-breaker. It was of considerable importance to him. That reputation was at stake; and had he sent me–a boy about sixteen years old–to the public whipping-post, his reputation would have been lost; so, to save his reputation, he suffered me to go unpunished.

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave written by Himself.

This portion of Douglass’s autobiography is probably:

the exposition.

the rising action.

the climax.

the falling action.

the conclusion.

The tone of the passage can best be described as:

melodramatic.

earnest.

ironic.

informal.

lyrical.

The phrase, “who has himself repelled by force the bloody arm of slavery”:

personifies slavery.

uses metaphor.

uses simile.

draws an analogy.

uses onomatopoeia.

Mr. Covey functions as:

the protagonist.

the good guy.

the antagonist.

a neutral character.

an anti-hero.

What argument is Douglass making in the first paragraph?

After battling Mr. Covey, he should have been freed.

Douglass is braver than Mr. Covey.

After battling Mr. Covey, Douglass was no longer a slave in spirit.

Slavery should be outlawed.

The mind can’t be free if the body is enslaved.

Which of the following values does the author emphasize in his account?

The importance of fighting for freedom

The value of passive resistance

The value of upholding one’s reputation

The importance of equal opportunity for all races

The value of competition

This account of slavery is:

a scholar’s interpretation.

a secondary account.

a historical transition essay.

a fictional account.

a primary account.

In the second paragraph, Douglass suggests that Mr. Covey never has him whipped again because:

Mr. Covey is afraid of Douglass.

Mr. Covey is a fair master.

Mr. Covey is concerned about his other slaves.

Mr. Covey is worried about how others will see him.

Mr. Covey is about to set Douglass free.

In the first paragraph, Douglass alludes to:

the Bible.

romantic literature.

the Declaration of Independence.

the Emancipation Proclamation.

other slave narratives.

For questions 10-18, refer to the following passage:

Very soon, though, a sudden change took place in Aurore’s soul. It would have been strange had it been otherwise. With so extraordinarily sensitive an organization, the new and totally different surroundings could not fail to make an impression. The cloister, the cemetery, the long services, the words of the ritual, murmured in the dimly-lighted chapel, and the piety that seems to hover in the air in houses where many prayers have been offered up– all this acted on the young girl. One evening in August, she had gone into the church, which was dimly lighted by the sanctuary lamp. Through the open window came the perfume of honeysuckle and the songs of the birds. There was a charm, a mystery and a solemn calm about everything, such as she had never before experienced. “I do not know what was taking place within me,” she said, when describing this, later on, “but I breathed an atmosphere that was indescribably delicious, and I seemed to be breathing it in my very soul. Suddenly, I felt a shock through all my being, a dizziness came over me, and I seemed to be enveloped in a white light. I thought I heard a voice murmuring in my ear: ‘Tolle Lege.’ I turned round, and saw that I was quite alone…”

Our modern psychiatrists would say that she had had an hallucination of hearing, together with olfactory trouble. I prefer saying that she had received the visit of grace. Tears of joy bathed her face and she remained there, sobbing for a long time. The convent had therefore opened to Aurore another world of sentiment, that of Christian emotion. Her soul was naturally religious, and the dryness of a philosophical education had not been sufficient for it. The convent had now brought her the aliment for which she had instinctively longed. Later on, when her faith, which had never been very enlightened, left her, the sentiment remained. This religiosity, of Christian form, was essential to George Sand.

Rene Doumic, George Sand: Some Aspects of Her Life and Writings

The tone of Doumic’s account of Aurore (George Sand’s real name) is best described as:

scornful.

ironic.

melancholy.

reverent.

objective.

Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?

Aurore received a visit of grace.

Aurore had romantic sensibilities.

Aurore was easily influenced.

Aurore had great faith.

Aurore spent time in religious surroundings.

The author suggests in the second paragraph that modern psychiatrists would have a different explanation for Aurore’s outburst. He includes this idea to:

provide support for his argument.

make the subjectivity of his interpretation clear.

appeal to authority.

transition into an extended comparison.

make an analogy.

Which of the following does the author use to promote his argument?

Factual evidence

Categorical organization

Romantic imagery

Objective tone

Logical fallacy

The statement “her soul was naturally religious” is an example of:

fact.

primary source material.

interpretation.

personal narrative.

use of fictional devices.

Which of the following arguments cannot be inferred from the passage?

Aurore underwent a religious awakening.

Aurore had a sensitive nature.

Aurore was influenced by her surroundings.

Aurore was highly intelligent.

Aurore was emotional.

This passage uses references to nature to:

establish Aurore’s innocence.

create a spiritual atmosphere.

contrast the city with the country.

highlight Aurore’s irrationality.

make an extended analogy.

When he quotes Aurore, the biographer is using what kind of evidence?

Primary

Secondary

Third person

Factual

Categorical

The last two sentences suggest that:

Sand remained a strong believer.

Sand left her faith behind when she became a writer.

religion eventually had no importance to Sand.

religious feelings remained important to Sand.

Sand was never enlightened.

For questions 19-25, refer to the following passage:

In five or six days we began to see signs of the great western movement that was then taking place. Parties of emigrants, with their tents and wagons, would be encamped on open spots near the bank, on their way to the common rendezvous at Independence. On a rainy day, near sunset, we reached the landing of this place, which is situated some miles from the river, on the extreme frontier of Missouri. The scene was characteristic, for here were represented at one view the most remarkable features of this wild and enterprising region. On the muddy shore stood some thirty or forty dark slavish-looking Spaniards, gazing stupidly out from beneath their broad hats. They were attached to one of the Santa Fe companies, whose wagons were crowded together on the banks above. In the midst of these, crouching over a smoldering fire, was a group of Indians, belonging to a remote Mexican tribe. One or two French hunters from the mountains with their long hair and buckskin dresses, were looking at the boat; and seated on a log close at hand were three men, with rifles lying across their knees. The foremost of these, a tall, strong figure, with a clear blue eye and an open, intelligent face, might very well represent that race of restless and intrepid pioneers whose axes and rifles have opened a path from the Alleghenies to the western prairies. He was on his way to Oregon, probably a more congenial field to him than any that now remained on this side the great plains.

Francis Parkman, Jr., The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Mountain Life

This passage is what kind of historical writing?

Case study

Primary source

Secondary source

Historical transition

Historiography

What fact can be determined from this passage?

The Spanish weren’t very smart explorers.

The French were cunning and strong explorers.

Explorers had to be brave during the westward expansion.

Different groups of people were involved in the westward expansion.

Only the bravest explorers made it to Oregon.

This portion of the history is most likely:

the rising action.

the climax.

the falling action.

the conclusion.

the exposition.

The author seems to respect which human characteristic?

Kindness

Nonviolence

Intellect

Bravery

Thoughtfulness

The author focuses his description primarily on:

nature.

the reasons pioneers went West.

people.

his own feelings.

the economic consequences of Westward expansion.

The tone of this passage is:

descriptive.

ironic.

heroic.

pessimistic.

didactic.

Which of the following statements sums up one of the author’s arguments?

The frontier was a dangerous place.

The frontier should have been limited to White men.

Westward expansion was a worthy enterprise.

Westward expansion should have been stopped.

The West was won at the expense of Native Americans.

Causes of Obesity and Ethical Values

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Adelle Davis once said, “to say that obesity is caused by merely consuming too many calories is like saying the only cause of the American Revolution was the Boston Tea Party”. We may all know many Acts were passed to increase the likeability of a revolution. The Boston Tea Party surely was one of the causes, but it is foolish to think that the Boston Tea Party was the only cause to the upheaval. Likewise, with obesity, many disregard alternative possibilities that may be playing a major role in this epidemic. People often have this pre-disposed idea that obesity is caused by simply “eating too much”. However, they aren’t taking into consideration the other many possible culprits to this huge epidemic in the United States. For example, other than just eating too much, there are advertisements geared towards children, fast food chains, and sedentary lifestyles. Understanding obesity is difficult due to the many causes that are ignored and the complexity of this issue. However, to understand obesity as a whole and to start a revolution of prevention, recognizing all possibilities needs to occur. In order to value American health, we must bring to the table the possible culprits of obesity while questions the ethical values of schools and businesses.

First of all, in order to conquer this issue and recognize the possible culprits, it is important to know everything that is encompassed within obesity. There are many interesting facts that the Health and Wellness Resource Center wants to make clear to many Americans. Obesity is an unusual accumulation of adipose tissue (fat tissue) that happens overtime as someone consumes more energy than is depleted. When someone is clinically considered obese, their Body Mass Index (BMI), “mass in kilograms divided by height in meters squared,” is above 30. As there are increased risks for those with obesity and the rates of obesity have sky-rocketed, bariatrics, the study and treatment of obesity, has become its own specialty. In contrast, it used to be a branch of nutrition. Those involved in bariatrics have created levels of obesity to inform their patients on their risks and what treatment means for them. The pillars, or categories, they have created are mild, moderate, and morbid. Mild obesity has been defined as 20-40% over ideal weight. Moderate obesity is where a patient is 40-100% over ideal weight whereas morbid obesity is where the patient is 100% over ideal weight. Depending on what percentage over ideal weight you are the treatment may differ, but the repercussions remain the same. You may experience severe issues like heart disease, unexplained heart attack, different cancers, and hyperlipidemia (over concentration of fat in blood); all the way to an aching body caused by joint problems. Rosalyn Carson-Dewitt, Tish Davidson, and William Atkins of the Health & Wellness Resource Center have found that those who are more “apple-shaped”, store weight on their waist and abdomen, carry greater risks for cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes than those that are “pear-shaped”, carry the weight on their hips and thighs. Many have ideas that obesity is occurring in adults, but it has become more of an epidemic for children than anyone could ever imagine. It isn’t just hitting these specific age groups either; it is affecting people of both sexes, many races, and different socioeconomic status. Even though different groups are being affected the procedure of examination remain the same. To examine if a person has obesity, Physicians will calculate their BMI. Sometimes there can be issues in calculating the BMI, so a physician may gaze at their exterior to determine if there truly is an issue. Through treatment and prevention, the main goal is reducing the patients BMI to be within normal range. To achieve this goal the patient may undergo behavioral treatment, surgical removal of adipose tissue, dieting, drug intake, and alternative treatment through herbs. In order to truly understand different treatment and prevention options and carry out the correct action, we must get to the heart of the issue.

Continually, in order to value American health, we must examine food advertisement while questioning the ethics of the businesses and schools portraying these deceiving messages. We see everywhere pictures on billboards of greasy burgers and fries that look appetizing. Yes; this could be caused from our distorted view of what food truly is, but it is also caused from the appetizing depictions of food. “The goal of marketing is to create customers” (Levine, Jane). The sole purpose behind these enticing depictions that create a desire to devour unhealthy foods is to create more business. When more business is created, there is greater profit to make more product for our inhumane consumption. According to Jane Levine, businesses, unethically, target elementary schools and young children for sale of product. I remember what it was like as a child watching television and seeing a commercial for the latest and greatest toy. The marketers of that product created a commercial that was geared toward my age group causing a craving for this toy. This purely manipulative approach creates a greater profit for the businesses product. The food industry has followed in these exact footsteps by promoting their product in schools, especially in locations like the cafeteria.

Likewise, while recognizing the possible culprit of manipulative advertising in obesity, we must bring to question not only the ethics of businesses, but also that of schools. This sort of advertising contributing to the obesity epidemic is at the fault of the administration of the school in which advertising is taking place. In order to have a “Got Milk?” poster in the lunchroom, the administration of the school must approve and promote the material. It is one thing to reveal the message that the businesses desire, but it is another to promote that product through the selling for personal profit. If you travel to an elementary school or even a high school for that matter, you will find foods high in fat, sodium, and sugar. These snacks are served through many different outlets. Whether it be through the lunch line or through the vending machine closest to the classroom being traveled to, preserved and fattening products are being ingested into the body, thereby playing a role in the childhood obesity epidemic. Marketing to these children has become “an acceptable ‘trade off” for needed funds and materials” over their own personal health (Levine, Jane). The fact that it has become a trade-off shows just how far away from good health and values America has fallen. The ethics of schools should be in question when it comes to this issue. The administration is feeding children disgusting lies through promoting disgusting product in order to fund their cutting-edge ideas. They are willing to sacrifice the health of children, a need, for their own personal desires. Philippians 2:3 says “do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves”. In the situation of the school’s promoting this product for the sake of funds, they are putting their desires above what the children need, good health. Purely selfish ambition encapsulates their minds as they think of no one but themselves. If the actions they are taking to fund their desires is not unethical and selfish, I don’t know what is.

In addition, the targeting of children in advertisements makes it difficult to value American health and questions the values of businesses. Food advertisements have almost become second nature to witness through television, the internet, and the radio. According to Naturopathy Digest “companies reported spending $745 million” on advertisements through the outlet of television. With this amount of money spent on food advertisement, our minds must be imbibed with the companies’ menus, slogans, and jingles. Naturopathy Digest noticed that through these outlets of advertisement, children are being targeted through different “promoters” of their product. Businesses have found a way to incorporate children’s favorite cartoon characters or MARVEL superheroes into their product that will increase demand of the product. Through this sort of enticement, superheroes and cartoon characters have easily become advocates for sugar packed snacks. Children begin to receive the message that eating badly is “good” because these characters, in their eyes, are good. Senator Tom Harkins of Iowa once said “more and more we see advertising for kids to get them hooked on high-fat, high-sugar, high-salt diets”. The ways that they get them hooked on their products is through their favorite characters in the companies’ image. It isn’t just our elementary student’s whom are becoming sugar addicts through faulty advertisement, but children even younger. A study done by Child Health Alert took “63 preschoolers from low-income families”, placed food without a brand name linked to it, and placed the exact same food with a McDonald’s logo on the packaging in front of the children. They found that more often than not the children reached for the food with the McDonalds packaging. This allowed Child Health Alert to infer that children by 2 years of age can recognize brand names and preschoolers can link logos and characters to specific brand names. With these results, we can see that at a young age things are recollected and linked to specific products. This is why “branding” of is extremely dangerous to the health of the new generation.

Next, we must bring to the table advertisements that are affecting the rates of acceptance of obesity. According to Bruce Horovitz of USA Today, “obese people are showing up in the very place that’s mostly excluded them for decades: ads.” The obese of these ads are conquering past stigma, but also bringing to the table another issue. Horovitz says that all of sudden, in this “new age”, it has become acceptable to show obesity. “More of us are overweight, so it’s a shared problem” (Horovitz, Bruce). I understand that the acceptance of these people all of sudden could be a factor of their breaking out from past body shaming, but something that must be considered is that the rates at which obesity has appeared in commercials correlates directly with the increase in obesity rates. Just like the child blinded by enticing advertisement, the adult is transitioned into a life of acceptance to the obesity epidemic. The prevalence of these commercials has led to a revolution of acceptance that has swept across our nation.

Additionally, to truly value American health, we must take into consideration misleading nutrition claims and be able to debunk them. A study done by J. Craig Andrews, Scot Burton and Richard G. Netemeyer of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), recruited “primary food shoppers” and interviewed them based upon the procedures accepted for copy tests. The leaders would start with ad claim type (2), to nutrition knowledge (2), and to disclosure type (4). This led them to the creation of the mathematical equation for impeccable results, 2 x 2 x 4. When it comes to nutrition knowledge, they are simply speaking of the cumulative knowledge that a primary food shopper has when it comes to aspects of nutrition. For example, this study took into consideration the knowledge one may have when it comes to phrases like: “without all the fat”, “a lot less sodium”, and “loaded with fiber”. If one doesn’t understand what these mean, because they have a lack of nutritional knowledge, they may have a greater chance of buying that product. Businesses feed off of lack of nutritional knowledge. Because many lack the understanding of misleading nutritional claims, the businesses have begun to exploit this and have turned their lack of knowledge into a colossal issue. The study revealed the three biases a consumer may have while looking at misleading nutritional claims. First, there is the positivity bias, “which consumers provide better product ratings merely based on the presence of the claim” (Andrews, Burton, & Netemeyer). This means that if a box of reduced fat Cheez-its was placed in front of a consumer, the consumer would likely give the product a better rating than Goldfish simply due to the ad claim of reduced fat. Secondly, there is the halo effect, “which consumer’s rate the product higher on other attributes not mentioned in the claim” (Andrews, Burton, & Netemeyer). For example, if a box of reduced fat Cheez-its was placed in front of a consumer again, the consumer is likely to give a better product rating to Cheez-its because of the sodium level instead of the claim of reduced fat. Thirdly, there is the “magic bullet” effect, “which consumers attribute inappropriate health benefits to the product” (Andrews, Burton, & Netemeyer). Once again, if a box of reduced fat Cheez-its is placed in front of a consumer, the consumer will most likely think that because it is reduced fat it is healthy. In reality, the product is still high in fat, just lower than the original product. In addition the study also took into consideration to importance of advertising disclosures. According to Andrews, Burton, and Netemeyer, advertising disclosures include extra information for consumers to lead to lower rates of being misled. They came to the conclusion that there are three different types of disclosure: absolute, relative, and evaluative disclosure. Absolute disclosure only gives information to consumers that involve the absolute quantitative level of nutrients within the product. For example, the product may reveal that it “contains 500 milligrams per serving” (Andrews, Burton, & Netemeyer). The next disclosure type noticed the fault in absolute disclosure by adding to the absolute information the recommended daily value and the daily value percentage. Lastly, there is evaluative disclosure. This disclosure type adds that if the per serving level of the nutrient shown on the packaging is high according to the FDA standards. As you could assume, the study found that evaluative disclosure had a greater effect on consumer purchasing rates of the product. If a product with evaluative disclosure on the packaging was placed in front of me, I would regard all the facts resounding as truth. It is more likely to buy the product with lower disclosure level (absolute disclosure) than that of high disclosure level (evaluative disclosure). Because evaluative disclosure is so convincing, many businesses that create fattening snacks will use the lowest disclosure to still create an influx of profit. The last element that Andrews, Burton, and Netemeyer took into consideration is that of ad claims. They found that the “use of general or specific ad claims also may affect generalizations from nutritional information ads”. Overall, nutritional knowledge, advertisement disclosures, and ad claims effect greatly the generalizations of consumers and then the profits of businesses. Because businesses’ profits can be changed drastically, they use low disclosure and manipulative ad claims to mislead consumers to purchase their product. This, in my opinion, is very unethical. Yes; their business is profiting and may be helping America economically, but they certainly are not helping America in health. The only thing that they are doing is leading them down the aisle of sugary snacks in deceitful ways that may in turn lead them in a downward spiral of unhealthy habits and obesity. Being able to debunk the health claims of businesses can be problematic, but you must have a controlled mindset and be able to ask yourself what the statements actually mean. In order to know what these statements mean nutritional knowledge is key.

Furthermore, in order to value American health, we must consider the foods that we are ingesting into our bodies. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity says “one trend that has attracted particular attention in both the scientific and lay press is the dramatic increase in eating away from home, and particularly at ‘fast food’ outlets.” Fast food restaurants have become so prevalent in the society that we live in today. We can see a McDonald’s, Arby’s, or Burger King on every corner. Because of the frequent sight of these restaurants, fast food has become a part of our monthly, weekly, or even daily intake. Scientifically, many correlations have been found between your favorite burger joint and obesity. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity has found that “time trends in eating away from home roughly parallel the national time trends in obesity prevalence”. It could be from the prevalence of fast food or the food on the menu, but we can see the direct relationship between fast food chains and obesity. The International Journal also noticed some very interesting facts about the prevalence of obesity and fast food chains. For example, “although there is no clearly agreed upon definition of the concept, ‘fast food’ outlets have been by far the most rapidly expanding sector of the U.S. food distribution system”. Many heads are coming together to ultimately form a definition for this outlet of distribution of food, whether that be based upon the calories and other nutritional facts about the product or the time span it takes to make the product. Until they find this definition, they all agree that it is growing faster than any other outlet. They also agree upon the fact that the food distributed at these chains is “positively associated with body weight” (Jeffery, Baxter, McGuire, & Linde). The amount of fat and sodium packed into company’s product has been proven to increase body weight significantly. In a documentary known as Super-Size Me, a man decides to experience for himself this exact issue. In the documentary, Morgan Spurlock decides to go to McDonald’s for a whole month, 30 days, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner to view the effects that fast food has on the human machine. He had found, at the end of his study, that his breathing was much heavier, mood swings were experienced, fat was accumulated in his liver, and he gained twenty-four pounds. Spurlock faced these side effects during the experiment, but he also experienced repercussions long after the production of this documentary. For example, the weight that he had gained stayed with him for a long time. It took Spurlock a whole fourteen months to get back to his original size and shape. Super-Size Me is an impeccable example of what fast food can do to your body and the long term effects that can be spurned upon you from fat packed, high in sodium food products. Aside from Robert W. Jeffery’s, Judy Baxter’s, Maureen McGuire’s, and Jennifer Linde’s agreement that these foods are “positively associated with body weight”, as seen with the case of Spurlock, they also agree upon the fact that the foods are generally high in energy density. The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity found, through an analysis of the foods served in these sort of venues, that energy packed foods makes the body more susceptible for an excess of energy intake. Because the human body cannot digest this much energy within their foods, weight is gained therefore linking these foods to obesity if eaten in excess amounts. To value American health, the importance of recognizing these factors of fast food linked to obesity is beyond prevalent. It’s hard to not walk down the street and see someone who is overweight or experiencing symptoms of weight gain. With the increase of eating out at fast food venues, we have found an undeniably sound culprit to the epidemic.

Altogether, we must bring to the table all of the possible perpetrators of obesity while questioning the ethical values of schools and businesses. Through all culprits of obesity, the deceitful hand of schools and businesses are in action. From the advertisements targeting with their favorite MARVEL character all the way to schools trading off young health for the sake of funding their desires, we have been swayed as a nation toward the acceptance of obesity through businesses and schools. Although there are many culprits to this major epidemic, maybe the heart of the issue isn’t biological factors or the foods we are ingesting, but rather the issue is within the ethical values of the schools and businesses promoting unhealthy lifestyles that lead to being deceived to death.


Works Cited

Drewnowski, A., et al. “Food environment and socioeconomic status influence obesity rates in Seattle and in Paris.” International Journal of Obesity, vol. 38, no. 2, 2014, p. 306+. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA3618463 7⁢=r&asid=4ebbe62a9c65e54ee48f95fca60fc39a. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Jeffery, Robert W, et al. “Are fast food restaurants an environmental risk factor for obesity?” TheInternational Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, vol. 3, no. 1, 2006. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA4688159 4⁢=r&asid=cf9c1f8cfb0290b625ebace3e61f9ffa. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

RABKIN, RHODA. “Fatter Than Ever.” Policy Review, 2001, p. 81. Academic OneFile,go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA7715024 ⁢=r&asid=ea2ed516f29eed3cdca2154adfba3770. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Liberatore, Stephanie. “Health wise.” The Science Teacher, Sept. 2008, p. 82. Academic OneFile,go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA1869008 2⁢=r&asid=28fb212e7602cd5541d67b5344e6a674. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Andrews, J. Craig, et al. “Are Some Comparative Nutrition Claims Misleading? The Role of Nutrition Knowledge, Ad Claim Type and Disclosure Conditions.” Journal of Advertising, Fall 2000, p. 29. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA7003708 ⁢=r&asid=e2536089d860b2305fd97e90a6686241. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Francis, Charles A. “Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health.” Crop Science, vol. 43, no. 3, 2003, p. 1142. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA1021053 5⁢=r&asid=c29f01487a56b76be9fb32f3ef34f8b8. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Sun, Marjorie. “Foods as salty as ever, center says.” Science, vol. 231, 1986, p. 792. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA4141405 it=r&asid=1d7d9dbadc3ae0503b64a8725b5bee44. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Horovitz, Bruce. “Ads put obese people in spotlight.” USA Today, 5 Oct. 2012, p. 01A. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA3044975 4⁢=r&asid=8876ef190a97ad4f43c574b3300a619a. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

“Kids are targets for billions in food ads.” Naturopathy Digest, Nov. 2008. Academic OneFile,go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA1910129 2⁢=r&asid=c99d7d1c248b7f0c6bb12a07ab25f05a. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

Levine, Jane. “Food Industry Marketing in Elementary Schools: Implications for School HealthProfessionals.” Journal of School Health, vol. 69, no. 7, 1999, p. 290. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA5747230 ⁢=r&asid=c6f1c034352ad731f1b3b6e9c28154fe. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

“How food ads might affect children’s taste preferences.” Child Health Alert, Sept. 2007, p. 2+. Academic OneFile, go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?p=AONE&sw=w&u=lom_accessmich&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CA1693093 8⁢=r&asid=356bb714303520c00e7daab17f841c9c. Accessed 9 Mar. 2017.

“Obesity.” Rosalyn Carson-DeWitt, MD., Tish Davidson, AM., and William Atkins. The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. 5th ed. Detroit: Gale, 2015. 9 vols.

bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/Selfishness.

NIV Bible. London, Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, 2007.

Spurlock, Morgan, director. Super Size Me. Cameo, 2005.

Arguments For and Against Vaccinations

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What is a vaccination?

Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” (Bartolotti, 2009). Even though Mr. Franklin was talking about fire prevention, it applies to the affirmation that all children that are medically able to be vaccinated. It is smarter to prevent a child from getting a disease rather than dealing with the disease itself and its effects.

The definition of vaccine is “a biological product that helps humans or other animals develop immunities that protect them from one or more diseases” (Blume, 1942). Vaccines are given to infants, children and adults to help protect the individual from obtaining certain diseases. There are some who do not believe in vaccinations for various reasons, but the majority of the people do choose to vaccinate their children. There is good reason for this position. In spite of concerns of autism, vaccine safety and unnecessary immunizations, it should be mandatory by law to vaccinate every child who is medically able in the United States because of the protection it gives our children against preventable diseases, the protection of those who cannot receive vaccinations and for financial savings.

Arguments for Vaccines / Vaccination

Vaccines are vital to protect our children against infectious diseases. A good example of this is the chickenpox vaccine. The proof is in the numbers. Offit and Moser (2011) describe how the chickenpox vaccine was introduced in 1995 and the number of reported cases of chickenpox dropped by 90% after the first year of children receiving the vaccine! They go on to state the rotavirus has dropped from about three million cases a year to only 300,000 since 2006. Other preventable diseases such as meningitis, polio and measles also show much-reduced numbers since the vaccines for them has been introduced (Offit & Moser, 2011).

A well-vaccinated population also protects those who are unable to receive vaccines. Some examples would be people who have

HIV

, are taking immune suppressive drugs, or otherwise immune compromised (Offit & Moser, 2011). In his article:” The Anti-vaccine Movement Endangers the Disabled” (Rhodes 2013) explains that even though these individuals are not able to receive the vaccines they are protected by what is called “Herd Immunity”. If the majority of the population is vaccinated, then the diseases don’t spread and those who can’t receive the shots are also protected. Others protected by herd immunity are children too young to receive the vaccine, and older population who have not received vaccines, or their resistance is low (Rhodes, 2013).

One issue typically not thought of when discussing the reasons to immunize a child is a financial one. (Feemster, 2018) acknowledges vaccines can be expensive, up to $1600.00 per child, but the cost of one Emergency Department visit and treatment for something as simple as dehydration caused by the rotavirus could cost up to $5000.00.  She further states if the child ends up with any disability such as a baby needing heart surgery because of rubella, the costs will skyrocket (Feemster. 2018).

Dr. McCarthy points out the costs of not immunizing your child is not limited to the cost of treating the disease contracted but also in time lost from work. Every day spent at home or the hospital taking care of a sick child is a full day’s pay that is not received (Campbell, 2012). Imagine the consequences if the child is so sick that a parent misses a month or more of work. Jobs could be lost, bankruptcies filed, relationships strained all of which could have been avoided by a simple vaccination.

Arguments Against Vaccination / Vaccines

There are many reasons people object to immunizing themselves or their children, and though I believe these people truly believe they are doing what is best for their child, I also believe their reasoning is off base and there are facts to prove it.

The claim most commonly heard is that vaccines, specifically the MMR vaccine causes autism. According to Offit and Moser, (2017) There are two claims that state the MMR vaccine can cause autism. The first came about in 1998 from researchers in England who believed autism was caused by the combination of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella given in one injection. This theory was quickly disproved by later studies. They further state that it wasn’t the combination of the MMR vaccine, but the thimerosal, a preservative added to the MMR and other vaccines that could be the cause or a contributor to autism (Offit & Moser, 2017).

Many studies were performed to examine if there was a link between thimerosal (a form of mercury) and autism. Congress have reviewed over 2200 studies done between 2004 and 2011and there was no evidence in a relationship between the thimerosal in vaccines and autism (Vaccines, 2015). Even though there was no proof that thimerosal caused autism, and due to public fear, The American Academy of Pediatrics asked that thimerosal be removed from the vaccines (Offit & Moser, 2017). There has been no thimerosal in childhood vaccines with the exception of some flu vaccines since 2001(Schaefer, 2001). Studies have also been conducted in the years since showing autism rates are the same no matter if a child got a vaccine containing thimerosal or if they were vaccinated with ones that didn’t (Offit & Moser, 2017).

Another argument to be refuted is that vaccines in general are not safe. The simple answer is yes, vaccines are safe. Vaccines must go through a very stringent process before they are licensed by the U.S Food and Drug Administration or the FDA. According to the CDC (Center for Disease control and Prevention) a vaccine must go through clinical trials. These trials look into the effectiveness of the vaccine, the proper dosage needed and any side effects that may occur. The CDC states by the time the clinical trials are complete “hundreds or thousands of volunteers [have] participated [in the trial]” (Johanson, 2017).

Once a vaccine is licensed by the FDA has a monitoring system called the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System or VAERS (Johanson, 2017). According to the CDC medical professional submit any adverse effects they find in patients from a vaccine. The VAERS system keeps track of the side effects and there are studies completed to see if the side effects are actually caused by the vaccine or not (Bartolotti, 2009). With this process in place it is clearly shown that vaccines given to our children in the United States are safe.

Lastly there is the objection that vaccines are given needlessly. People tend to think, well, no one gets diphtheria, measles or mumps anymore, why should I vaccinate my child against them? Someone with the measles could easily enter the US and infect those who are not immune. The article goes on to state that the US believed measles were no longer a threat in 2000, but by 2014 there were 667 cases reported. This happened because although there were no cases of measles in the US in 2000, there were in other parts of the world and people traveled in with the disease and infected someone who had not been immunized.

Others argue that we should let our children be exposed naturally to such diseases as chickenpox or even the measles. (Feemster, 2018 ) admits that natural immunity usually does give better immunity than vaccines, but that it comes at a price. So many complications can come from having a simple childhood disease such as pneumonia, birth defects and even death (Feemster, 2018). It is much safer and smarter to immunize.

Conclusion

Because of vaccines we live in a world where we do not have to be afraid our child will die from the measles, we don’t worry about smallpox or polio. Our children are safer and live longer thanks to the availability of these immunizations. Our government has put into place a stringent, organized system to ensure the vaccinations are safe and the side effects are known (Rhodes, 2013 ). Vaccines are safe, they are needed, and most importantly they save lives.

References

  • Bartolotti, Charles. (2009). The H1N1 influenza pandemic. New York. Nova Science Publishers
  • Blume, Stuart. (1942). Immunizations, how vaccines became controversial. London. Reaktion Books.
  • Campbell, Braydon, (2012). Vaccinations, procedures, types and controversy. N.Y. Nova Biomedical.
  • Feemster, Kristen. (2018). Vaccines what everyone needs to know. New York, NY. Oxford University Press.
  • Johanson, Paula. (2017). Critical perspectives on vaccinations. New York, New York, Enslow Publishing.
  • Offit, Paul, and Charlotte Moser. (2011). Vaccines and Your Child. Separating Fact from Fiction. Columbia University Press
  • Rhodes, John. (2013). The end of plagues : the global battle against infectious disease. New York. Palgrave Macmillan
  • Schaefer, Christof. (2007). Drugs and vaccinations during pregnancy and lactation. Amsterdam, New York. Elsevier.2wsx

Risk of Violence in Health Settings

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Introduction

Workplace violence is a universal problem in health care settings across Canada. Health care workers have four times higher rate of workplace violence than any other profession. And yet, most of the violence experienced by health care workers goes unreported due to a culture of acceptance. The main thesis of discussion is about workplace violence among nurses. The definition of violence varies on practice settings or situations, there is an agreement that violence in the workplace is detrimental to the health and wellbeing of nurses and to the provision of quality nursing care. Workplaces include hospitals and long-term care facilities, primary care centres, outreach services and client’s homes. Nurses have the right to work in an environment that is free from all forms and sources of violence, bullying, harassment and verbal abuse by patients, families, doctors, colleagues, management. Violence in workplaces impacts both staff and patients. It minimizes the quality of care and impacts health outcomes. There are various implications and recommendations which aims to prevent violence among nurses will be discussed in this paper.


Background

The national comprehensive government survey to consider the health and wellbeing of nurses was conducted by Health Canada, Statistics Canada and the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI, 2005). National Survey of the Work and Health of Nurses findings found that 19,000 nurses surveyed, about a third of hospital nurses had suffered physical abuse by patients and in long-term care homes 50% of nurses reported physical abuse by patients within 12-month period.

The findings also revealed that in Ontario 28.4 percent of nurses had been physically assaulted by a patient in the period of twelve months and 2 per cent had been physically assaulted by someone other than a patient. In the same survey, the percentage of Ontario respondents who reported they had experienced emotional abuse at work, over the past 12 months was from a patient 44.9 per cent and minority of them were nurses, others and physicians. By looking into this survey results shows clearly that nurses are the immediate victims.


Definition



Workplace violence is the act or attempt to cause injury or abuse. Violence can be physical or psychological. It can be committed by anyone – employers, clients, co-workers or members of the public (WHSC). Workplace violence includes physical attacks or assaults, threatening behavior, verbal or written threats, abuse or assault and harassment, sexual abuse or statements, poisoned work environment and bullying behavior.


Scope

The workplace violence among nurses are not seen only particular province it is widespread. Nurses in every province of Canada were still facing the violence at workplace. A national survey of the work and health of nurse’s survey was conducted in 2005 report shows that majority 36.2% of physical assault was done by patients over 12 months period in Newfoundland and minority 26.5% seen in Quebec. Whereas, 58.6% of them were emotionally abused by a patient over 12-month period in Yukon, Nunavut and Northwest territories and minority 41.7% seen in New Brunswick. The survey had revealed violence among nurses at workplace in all the provinces.


Factors contributing violence


Several factors that contributes violence in health care. Some of them includes:


Benefits and challenges

The benefits to the nurses or health care system is nil where violence makes downfall of the service or destruction of the Canadian health care system. There are many challenges facing by the nurses mostly physical and emotional aspects. Physical aspects were headache, bruises, head injuries, fractures. Emotional aspects were anxiety, depression, fear, tension and sleep problems which all these leads to dissatisfaction of job, absenteeism, sick leaves. I like to discuss about two literatures which the studies mainly focused on workplace violence.

A descriptive study was conducted by Lucie Lemelin, Jean-Pierre Bonin, and André Duquette (2009) to determine the prevalence, origins, and forms of workplace violence reported among 181 nurses working in acute-care settings in Quebec. A workplace violence events questionnaire was administered in order to collect the data. Almost 87% of respondents reported being exposed to at least one of three forms of violence like physical, psychological, or sexual. The study results showed that 65.9% of respondents were victims of horizontal violence, while 59.6% had experienced vertical violence and 59.1% had been victims of violence inflicted by a doctor. The literature says about challenges faced by nurses due to violence at workplace either from patients or colleagues would result in unexpressed anger or passive-aggressive behaviour that is manifested in depression, workplace dissatisfaction, and violence-tinged behaviour.

A literature review was done by Abigail Mitchell, Areeg Ahmed, Catherine Szabo (2014) regarding workplace violence among nurses, why are we still discussing this? It is estimated that 50% of health care workers are physically assaulted during their professional careers and that nurses are three times more likely to experience violence than any other professional group. As victims of workplace violence, nursing students, new graduates, and novice faculty might remain silent out of fear and embarrassment. The direct or indirect negative behaviors associated with workplace violence might never be known to nursing students or graduate nurses unless they are empowered with knowledge and understanding regarding how to acknowledge and report workplace violence incidents. The literature says about challenges faced by nurses consequences of workplace violence include being labeled as a troublemaker; fear about loss of career advancement opportunities; fear about termination from the job; and experiencing psychosomatic symptoms such as nervous tension, headaches, eating disorders, sleep disturbance, and onset of chronic illness which leads to shortage because the nurses are leaving the profession due to experiencing workplace violence.

We have just seen how the two studies have been framed. Both the literatures showed common point about challenges faced by nurses due to violence at workplace. I want to argue for the view that in Lucie study, the author performed systematic approach of how the sample has selected and number of samples thereby, administered a survey questionnaire and collected the data which results had been discussed briefly. Based on the results the author has given recommendations and further studies to be done in other directions. But this literature is limited to the nurses who are volunteered by themselves only. It can be possible that most of the nurses who volunteered have faced violence once in a time. If most of them faced violence and are part of the sample, then most of them might have answered same. So, that the study results would come biased. Instead, the author could have gone through a quantitative approach and random sampling technique. In this approach the bias ratio will be less and could get an average percentage of violence noted.

Abigail literature the author hasn’t done the systematic approach of the study. The author has reviewed from other literatures and concluded. In the conclusion I disagree with the author where mentioned about profession of nursing consists primarily of females, nurses are at increased risk for workplace violence. I disagree with that argument because in every occupation men and women both are equally being assaulted at workplace. I believe women are stronger because they have a matured thinking ability in handling critical situations, they are running family, handling kids and dealing many roles which men can’t do. My view related to that passage of course most of the females were in nursing profession. It is not a matter of men or women because the violence is doing mostly by the patients or families. Since their state of mind is not stable, they are provoking for violence due to their disease’s conditions. For instance, Psychological condition patient is aggressive and attacks nurses or behave rudely which is common because of his/her condition and nurses are the immediate members who always deal with the patients are easily prone for violence by patients.


Impact and Implications

Workplace violence in nursing has effects on worker’s health as unstable health, mental health, and vitality scores as observed in nurses who felt threatened and increased levels of psychological distress related to bullying and verbal sexual harassment suffered by nurses. I have asked few of my friends who were working as a nurse about workplace violence.  One of them stated that:


One day I am on night shift went to the patient room to give his medications. While I was talking to him, suddenly he grabbed my hand and holed tightly for a minute and laughed. I was really scared because that room was in corner of the floor and no one could hear my voice. From that day I am scared to go alone to patient rooms specially the corner rooms. (Friend)

This shows that not only physically but psychologically the nurses are affecting and not working comfortably. The impact on nurses are short term and long term which results in pain, sprain, palpitations, sleep disorders, stress, depression, fear of patients and/or visitors, and job dissatisfaction were the complains made by nurses exposed to violence. In extreme cases of physical violence, workers have been murdered while others may suffer bruises, cuts and broken bones. These same physical attacks may lead to psychological effects including depression, anxiety, sleep disorders, mental illness, post traumatic stress disorder and overall stress.


Effect on human resource management

Nurses are facing many challenges at workplace violence has an impact on the delivery of care results in staff shortages due to workplace injuries and high rates of burnout and workplace stress that affect quality of care and increase costs to the health care system. Nursing shortage resembles high demand of nurses the human resource management must recruit and pay more for nurses which results in time taking and financial burden. Workplace violence not only affects the health-care workers themselves; it negatively impacts the organization. There are huge costs involved when nurses are off work due to incidents of violence, including workers’ compensation claims and sick days.


Implications

Implications that I foreseen were

  • Educate and train health care professionals in the de-escalation of violence
  • Undertake violence risk assessments of health care organizations, departments and individual patients
  • Provide personal alarms with emergency buttons to the staff
  • Flagging system of patients who pose a risk for violent behaviour
  • Voice activated communication devices
  • Personal safety response systems that allow health care providers to call for help
  • Security personnel and protocols to respond to violence
  • Training for health care workers regarding violence prevention
  • Organize workstations with high counters and wide desks.


Recommendations



Policies and standards make some change but, I recommend nursing leaders should come forward and develop strategies at organisational levels for example, mock-up sessions of  how to handle during violent behaviour, improve awareness among staff- ensure nurses to speak up or raise their voice, educate about risk assessment, conduct monthly meetings about the issues, arrange complaint boxes at each unit. To prevent violent behaviours, develop colour-coded labels and pull-tabs on paper-based charts. Other visual cues may be colour-coded wristbands, coloured markers or a sticker on a mobility aid. These visual cues can relay safety concerns to members of the care team who do not have access to patient medical records, such as housekeeping, maintenance, volunteers or the dietary staff. Security personnel also plays an important role in health-care facilities. Heath-care staff need to be properly trained on handling violent and aggressive situations. All the staff should work as team to prevent the violence among nurses at workplace. The team includes manager, in charge nurse, nurse and personal support worker and security personnel. Studies need to be done not only among nurses but also why the violent behaviour is enacting.

The first literature states that nurses are strongly advised to denounce violence and refuse to tolerate it. They should be encouraged to speak out about the violence that they experience and to take action that will promote good relationships with their co-workers. A sense of solidarity should be developed in order to counteract the violence. Nurse managers might consider identifying key factors that favour the development and implementation of programs aimed at preventing workplace violence. Future research should focus on examining the origins of the psychological violence that is so common among colleagues and on identifying factors that are likely to defuse this type of violence

The second literature states the following actions are to be implemented in health care settings: continuously evaluate and review environmental and administrative controls and local crime rate records and statistics; establish and evaluate violence-prevention programs on an ongoing basis; pre screen job applicants by conducting background checks and by evaluating professional competence and conduct; establish procedures for disciplining and firing employees to minimize potential for violent reaction; mandate workplace violence staff education and training that includes workplace prevention strategies and staff encouragement to report workplace violence; establish policy and procedures for responding to and reporting workplace violence; educate supervisors that all suspicious behavior and reports of workplace violence be taken seriously and thoroughly investigated; and establish counseling programs for employees who are victims of workplace violence. Continuing research is needed in exploring these suggestions by the Joint commission to see the effectiveness of each than the other.

I agree with both the literatures because when violence happened to nurse firstly, the nurse must speak up or raise his/her voice about the incident or violence happened to her. In every hospital or organisation “Zero Tolerance” is there at workplace which provides measures for the protection of the nurses. But how many hospitals or care centers are using the preventive measures for instance, security personnel at each unit. If a nurse does a simple mistake in documentation or any error, there will be a course examination, report writings and incidence writing in some cases cancelling the license. If a patient does some violence, why don’t he/she get a penalty or charges. I feel that if any patient or family member does violence to nurse or any health personnel then the actions to be taken by law that cancelling the health card so that they pay all the expenses for their treatment from their own pockets. This may reduce the violence among nurses.


Conclusion

The violence is increasing in our health care settings. We know that nurses are more at risk and we have preventive measures of what works to help reduce violence against health care workers. As such, governments, employers, unions and other health care stakeholders must come together to take concerted action on the issue. Engage the staff in self-awareness and reflective practice ensures that leadership styles do not support the violent behavior in the healthcare organization. The nursing leaders need to take stand on issues, inspire challenges, listen, advice, coach, and guide the nurses in all the dimensions. A mock-up session at each hospital or care centres on how to handle a violent behaviour from patient or any other person would be beneficial for nurses. Nurses are there when patients need them most. It’s time to make sure nurses are safe at work by raising standards, improving health and safety measures for nurses.

References

Stages 5 and 6 of kotters change model

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Continue working on Stages 5 and 6 of Kotter’s Change Model and apply to your topic.

My topic is hospital inpatient fall prevention.

Stage 5:  Empowering Employees for Broad Based Action

Stage 6:  Generating Short-term Wins

Discuss how the system empowers employees for broad based actions of change as it applies to your system and how the system generate short term wins for achievements of strategic organizational goals. This assignment should be approximately 500-700 words in length.  Please use peer reviewed articles.

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN)

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Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN)

The event to address:
A 43 years old patient was hospitalized once 15 days ago. He had a transmetatarsal amputation of the left foot secondary to diabetes mellitus type 1 and cellulites six month ago, he is not aware of how complicated his condition is and the possible complications that he could have. The patient also had a transmetatarsal amputation of the right foot six months ago secondary to diabetes. According to the patient history one of the main problems is that he has history of alcohol and drug abuse, he has not complied with the treatment of diabetes and with the post operative care required after the first amputation.
The topic to address is Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN). Please write about the 6 competencies of QSEN How each of the 6 QSEN competencies were follow or not followed using this patient history and the WRONG DIAGNOSIS that he suffered during his stay in the hospital. During the stay in the hospital the patient developed certain symptoms that were diagnosed with a parasitic infection, while the real problem was kidney failure. To authenticate the symptoms, the practitioner is expected to conduct a series of tests, which will affirm the real issue affecting the patient. In this case, the doctor performed a urine test with the aim of establishing whether the patient had a urinary tract infection. Showing the present of some bacteria, the doctor concluded that the patient was suffering from parasitic infection in the urinary system, specifically the bladder. Since the patient exhibited other symptoms such as fever and pain on the side, the doctor deemed it unnecessary to conduct further diagnosis such as scans. For this reason, the doctor never recommended dialysis but rather offer the patient antibiotics and as a result, the patient’s condition deteriorated.

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN)
• The purpose of this assignment is to identify a problem in the clinical area and to utilize evidence-based strategies to improve the quality and safety of patient care. For more information about the QSEN, go to https://www.qsen.org/ksas_prelicensure.php
• In 2008, a committee of healthcare experts proposed 6 competencies to ensure that nursing students develop the knowledge, skills and attitude (KSA) necessary to provide quality and safety patient care.

1. Patient-Centered Care
2. Teamwork and Collaboration
3. Evidence-Based Practice
4. Quality Improvement
5. Safety
6. Informatics
Assignment Criteria:

A. Identify an event that happened in the clinical area during practicum; discuss how this could have caused or did cause a negative patient outcome.

B. Develop a scenario to illustrate the problem. Patient’s identifiers are not to be used.

C. Discuss how each of the 6 QSEN competencies were or were not followed and ultimately caused, or could have caused a negative patient outcome.

D. Discuss the importance of integrating the QSEN competencies into the following areas; clinical practice, nursing education, and nursing research. Each point must be specifically addressed in a separate section.

 

 

Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Paper

 

 

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Convince your peers of the value of using a specific theory to guide practice and evaluate care.

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Convince your peers of the value of using a specific theory to guide practice and evaluate care.

This is a CLC assignment.
The purpose of this assignment is to have a clear understanding of the elements of a theory and to apply a theory to practice. The CLC group must use a grand theory or a high-level mid-range theory.
The group will create a report for a practice committee at a health care institution. The objective is to convince your peers of the value of using a specific theory to guide practice and evaluate care.
Since the text does not provide adequate information on any one theory for the purpose of this assignment, further research through nursing theory websites (general and specific), as well as theory texts specific to individual theories, will be required.
Begin the assignment by identifying a theorist and providing the rationale for the group’s selection.
Prepare this assignment according to the guidelines found in the GCU APA Style Guide, located in the Student Success Center. An abstract is not required.

Heart Disease and Stroke essay

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Heart Disease and Stroke essay

1. Writing the Paper: You will individually research the topic and apply the information in writing a 2-3 page APA format paper.

a. Select a minimum of three (3) scholarly nursing or research article (published within the last 5 years) related to your topic, which includes health promotion and wellness content. You may need to evaluate several articles before you find ones that are appropriate.
b. Write a 2-3 page paper (excluding the title and reference pages) using the following guidelines:
? Write brief introduction of the topic and why it is important to health promotion.
? Include a description of the topic and the targeted population (include statistics).
? Explain how the project relates to the Healthy People 2020 topic area you have chosen.
? Summarize the articles; include key points or findings from the articles.
? Discuss how you used the information from the articles for your Health Promotion Project. Provide specific examples.
? Describe the approach (es) you developed to educate the target population about the topic. Include specific ways to promote lifestyle changes within the specified population. The approach should be appropriate for target population.
? Write your conclusion and summary.
? All articles must be from nursing or scholarly journals and should include health promotion and wellness content. Articles must be published within the last five (5) years.

A hospital is planning to purchase new telemetry heart monitors for the intensive care unit (ICU), emergency department (ED), and intermediate care unit (IMCU).

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A hospital is planning to purchase new telemetry heart monitors for the intensive care unit (ICU), emergency department (ED), and intermediate care unit (IMCU).

A hospital is planning to purchase new telemetry heart monitors for the intensive care unit (ICU), emergency department (ED), and intermediate care unit (IMCU). To make the capital purchase productive, hospital administration forms a committee consisting of the unit managers, nursing representatives from each unit, a biomed individual, and the financial officer. Each
unit is allowed representation based on the number of nurses employed on the units. This results in three ICU nurses, three IMCU nurses, and one ED nurse.
Management is concerned about the costs of replacing the unit; therefore, the financial officer pushes for the cheapest product, insisting that budget constraints and decreased revenue require the purchase of a less expensive system. However, the ICU, IMCU, and ED representatives gather after the meeting to discuss their support for the most expensive system. They devise a proposal that outlines the uninterrupted flow of patients with the system, explains how the telemetry units meet each
area’s needs, and demonstrates how the system will save money in the long term. They create a chart that compares the two models, demonstrating how the more expensive system could enhance patient outcomes. They convince the biomed representative to side with them based on their knowledge that his mother is in the ICU and could benefit from the outcome.
The nurses also gain support from several local cardiologists for their desired system.
1. Describe how the nurses used political strategies to influence the decision.
2. How does this case reflect the political power of nurses?
3. How did the nurses demonstrate the political skills described in the text?
4. What was the purpose behind the nurses forming a coalition?