Question

1. How do you stay up-to-date with safe work practices in regards to workplace systems, equipment and processes in your work?
2. . Describe the situation, discuss the safe work practices you followed throughout the job, discuss any hazards or risks you identified, the steps you took to remove or minimise the hazard and the reporting procedures you followed or would have followed to report hazards, incidents, injuries or client-related risk factors.

Answer 1

ANSWER: WAYS TO KEEP UP TO DATE REGARDING SAFE WORK PRACTICES :

• get a mentor help: To know about new practices, guidelines, safe rules about the workplace, prevention of hazards and risk an employee or nurse or any other health care professional can get mentoring from the experienced and higher person. They can stay tune with trends about health care guidelines by following them and get some experience from them.
• search, research and study: More we do study more we know about the latest guidelines about safe practices. To know the latest and trendy news about equipment, workplace, and processes nurse should use the guidelines, reference, and internet, brainstorming, learn from their own skills and experience, published books.
• broad network: Nurse should have a broad network and communication with many people with all levels of the manager so that she can learn from them.
• training and workshops: In-service education is the most important aspect that has aim to improve and make up to date knowledge of nurses regarding new equipment, its use, process, or new policy. Nurse must-attend conferences, workshops and seminars to get in-service education and continue their education.
• be social: Join journal, blogs, publications, other social sites to update your knowledge.

SITUATION: A patient who is unconscious and critical condition living in the room near to construction place and in dim light nurse is providing patient care.

ACTION OR SAFE WORK PRACTICES :

1. identify the risk: risk of injury, the hazard from noise, and dust is identified and due to dim light nursing care can go wrong.
2. change environment: Ward in charge is communicated to change the room for the patient and provide adequate light, avoid sources of unnecessary noise.
3. educate: education to nurses and other health personnel is a must regarding safe work practices
4. family participation: It can also reduce the chances of injury and hazards to patient when nurses are not near patients.
5. safety rules: Safety rules should be followed for example, use of side rails, use aseptic technique, inform to a physician if any changes is there in client condition, proper documentation, adequate biomedical waste management, etc
6. housekeeping: It is must to keep check the housekeeping whether they are working properly or not, they are following guideline of infection control or not, proper disposal, segregation, treatment of biomedical waste management is must.
7. PPE: It is must to wear personal protective equipment during any hazardous condition, caring infectious patients, and while making cytotoxic medications. Safety clothing, donning of gloves, gown, mask and another PPE is a must.

JOB HAZARDS THAT IS IDENTIFIED IN WORKPLACE:

• slips, trips, and fall of the patient or health care professional.
• communicable disease spread

Hazard is any risk, injury or that can loss or affect the health, property or harm the environment.

STEPS TO REDUCE THESE HAZARDS ARE AS FOLLOWS:

• hazard identification: It is necessary to first identify the hazard in a hospital setting.It can be done by a survey from nurse staff, other health team members, and patients can assess the problem they are facing in the hospital.
• risk assessment: After knowing the problem we should assess the risk that how much it has an impact on their life, how much it is affecting patient, personnel health, environment and mental status.
• control this risk: Risk can be controlled by discussing the issue with an interest group, managers and administrators. Planning, implementation is an integral part in the control of risk. It includes:

1. education
2. training to personnel
3. environment changes
4. use of PPE
5. modification in policy
6. hygiene, housekeeping modifications
7. health appraisal
8. comply
9. safety rules
10. changing in procedures
11. communication with others

• evaluation: It is must to perform duty of nurse or other worker is not finished in making changes. They have to evaluate their strategies and measure. Evaluation can be done by survey, post test, auditing, checking recording, reporting and census.

OTHER RISK/ HAZARDS CAN BE:

• physical hazards
• chemical hazards
• biological hazards
• ergonomic hazards
• psychological
• radiation hazards