Hospital housekeepers - Partners to prevent and control healthcare associated infections
Joint Event on World Summit on Healthcare & Hospital Management & International Conference & Exhibition onBiologics and Biosimilars
March 26-27, 2018 | Orlando, USA
Priscilla Ream
Bronson Commons, USA
Keynote : Asian J Biomed Pharmaceut Sci
Abstract:
Hospital Housekeepers (HH) are the responsible for cleaning, disinfecting, and are the final personnel to process medical waste in healthcare environments - practices proven to be essential to prevent and control healthcare associated infections (HAIs). Studies have shown that HH have poor education/ training, and other factors that increase their risk of being exposed to workplace hazards such as biological risk. Ineffective waste management, along with increasing the risk for HH injuries, can also increase the risk for accidents with biological material among healthcare workers, and people without presumed risk. HH should be treated as the important partners they are to prevent and control HAIs and consequently improve patient safety and the quality of healthcare services provided to clients. That being said, they should have appropriate training, access to information to prevent injuries, access to vaccines like HBV prior to exposure, appropriate PPE, and in the case of a work-related exposure incident, the same treatment as a healthcare worker would receive. The healthcare team should also receive continuing education about waste management to avoid improper waste segregation.
Biography:
Priscilla Ream is a Brazilian nurse and received her BSN in 2011, her MSN in 2014 by Federal University of Goias, Brazil. She has experience in Practical Nursing, Nursing Research, Infection Control, and Epidemiology – mostly acquired as a member of the Nursing Faculty Research Group at the Federal University of Goias: Center for Studies and Research in Nursing Infection Prevention and Control Related to Health Care (NEPIH) between 2009-2015. During undergraduate, she participated in an internship in the Infection Control Commission in the Faro Hospital, Algarve, Portugal. To expand her international experience as a nurse, in 2016 she received her RN license in the USA, and currently works as RN in the State of Michigan. She has publications in the area of accidents with biological material and wound treatment, and serves as a reviewer for Journals while enhancing her international nursing career.
Email: prisf_enf@yahoo.com.br
PDF HTML