Question

Read the case study, then answer the questions that follow.

Liam is the facility manager at a residential aged care facility. The service provides independent living units, community nursing and home care packages, day centre visits, respite care, palliative care, and dementia specific care, to older people. Liam is responsible for managing legal and ethical compliance within the organisation, ensuring the facility’s AHPRA registration and accreditation are up to date, and maintaining collaborative and effective relationships with all multidisciplinary team members. Lucy, a casual nurse, comes to work with symptoms of gastroenteritis. She knows that she should have stayed home but she knew the service was going to be short staffed. After carrying out her duties for three hours, Lucy talks to her manager, Janice, in the tea room. She explains her symptoms and that she is feeling weak and unsteady. Janice tells her to go home immediately as gastroenteritis is highly contagious and could pose a severe health risk to residents and other staff members. That evening, four residents develop gastroenteritis. Liam has left work for the day but receives a phone call from the night nursing unit manager alerting him to the spread of virus (herein called ‘the incident’). Liam responds immediately by ordering the service into lock down. One of the residents who contracted the virus is taken to hospital for treatment and is in a critical condition. Liam organises refresher training for all staff with regard to duty of care. Liam receives an incident report form from Janice regarding Lucy’s illness. He thinks that because of Lucy’s failure to comply with organisational work health and safety procedures relating to infection control, the organisation has breached its duty of care to provide residents with a safe and healthy care environment.

a. How could Liam determine the organisation’s scope of compliance requirements relating to the health and safety of workers and people receiving support services? (Approx. 30 words).

b. List two places where Liam could access and interpret legal information relating to the incident. (Approx. 20 words that you can present in a bullet list if you wish)..

c. Aside from an infection control risk, what other aspect of WHS was at risk if Sarah stayed at work? (Approx. 15 words).

be specific tyere is a case study and questions??? exactly as it was given

Answer 1

Answer

a)The workplace has a responsibility towards health and safety

With this right comes a worker's responsibility to report all hazards to their employer, without fear of reprimand, reprisal, or punishment. Through participation in health and safety-related activities, workers help decide what hazards can be tolerated in the workplace and what hazards must be mitigated.

checklist may be used for the review

• Is the Safety Statement clear and concise so that it can be read and understood by those who may be at risk?
• Is the Safety Statement available at the workplace to which it relates and are workers given relevant extracts where they are at specific risk?
• Is the overall safety and health policy of the organisation and the internal structure for implementing it adequate, e.g. are responsibilities of named persons clearly outlined?
• Does the Safety Statement contain a systematic identification of hazards and an assessment of risks for the workplace(s) it covers?
• Are Risk Assessments being carried out on a regular basis as risks change and are the necessary improvements made to keep the safety and health management system up to date?
• Are the necessary safety control measures required for a safe workplace identified and implemented, e.g. the provision of safe access and egress, good housekeeping, clear passageways and internal traffic control?
• Are written safe procedures for those operations that require them available, e.g. for routine processing and ancillary activities, handling and using chemicals, preventive maintenance, plant and equipment breakdown maintenance, accident and ill-health investigations, emergency planning, assessment of personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements?
• Are procedures available for monitoring the implementation of safety systems and control measures, e.g. are safety audits being carried out?
• Is safety and health training being carried out and does the training give adequate information to workers on risks they might be exposed to?
• Is the impact of this training and the level of understanding of the information assessed by anyone?
• Do safety consultation, employee participation and representation procedures exist and are these procedures effective, e.g. is there good co-operation between employer, managers and employees on safety and health issues at the workplace?

Infection control – occupational exposure to body fluids

If you come in contact with blood or body fluids:

· Flush the area with running water.

· Wash the area with plenty of warm water and soap.

· Report the incident to the appropriate staff member.

· Record the incident via the Disease/Injury/Near Miss/Accident (DINMA) reporting procedure.

· Seek medical advice.

Employers and occupational health and safety representatives should investigate all incidents involving contact with blood or body fluids, and take action to prevent a similar incident from happening again.

2) Legal Aspect of Infection Prevention

and Control

´There is no case law relating specifically to non-compliance with infection

control practices

´Can the current case law could be used to establish whether or not a

healthcare professional who had failed to implement to an acceptable

standard infection control practices had acted negligently, and as a result

caused a patient to develop a healthcare-associated infection

• There is no case law relating specifically to non-compliance with infection

control practices

• ´Can the current case law could be used to establish whether or not a

healthcare professional who had failed to implement to an acceptable

standard infection control practices had acted negligently, and as a result

caused a patient to develop a healthcare-associated infection?

B)Legal aspect of infection control and prevention-There is no specific case law relating specifically

· Acceptable standard infection control practices to be implemented.

· C)if sarah stays at hospital

Clinical care staff and other health care workers are the frontline defense for applying daily infection control practices to prevent infections and transmission of organisms to other patients. Although training in preventing bloodborne pathogen exposures is required annually by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, clinical nurses (registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, and certified nursing assistants) and other health care staff should receive additional infection control training and periodic evaluations of aseptic care as a planned patient safety activity.

So she should be provided with sick leave for few days till inection get resolved and test results negative.other staffs to be evaluated for spread of infection,serious infection control measures to be implemented with adequate inservice education .