Communicable Disease And Hand Hygiene †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Communicable Disease And Hand Hygiene. Answer: Introduction Communicable disease can be stated as an infection that is transmitted to persons either through direct contact with infected people or things. Self-hygiene can be an important way to prevent the transmission of the communicable disease to a greater extent. Skin is the natural barrier to the entry of any pathogenic organisms but any accidental cuts or any piercing in the body made it advantageous to the organisms to enter the body and cause diseases. Personal appearance service can be defined as anything luxury that is done on personal choice that is hairdressing, penetration of the skin like nose or ear piercing and tattooing. The spread of the disease causing pathogens is combated by different legislation and adopting tools that identify the risk factors. Priority should be given to the health of the individual seeking these services which helps to reduce the spreading of the infectious diseases. Hand hygiene The most exposed part of our body is hand and most of the infectious diseases are transmitted by it. The hands may be contaminated by coughing, sneezing, touching dirty and contaminated surfaces, handshaking and many others. When the hands are contaminated with any bacteria or virus that causes diseases, they get the opportunity to enter the body and as a result can also transmit from one person to another. The important ways to prevent the transmission of these infectious or communicating diseases are by hand washing. Washing hands with soap helps to prevent the transmission of many food borne diseases, respiratory infections and diarrheal diseases. Public Health Act 2003 (Infection Control for Personal Appearance Services) states that the personal hygiene is essential in reducing the risk of the infection. Hand washing should be done just before performing any personal appearing services, after contacting with any infectious agents or any other things (Bergstrm Bodlund, 2015). Hand hygiene is very important in preventing the transmission of the infectious diseases in a piercing shop as both the piercer and the pierce can be infected. The hand of the piercers should be washed properly with hand sanitizer before handling with each client. The piercer should wear disposable gloves to avoid any infection. According to the Public health legislation, the shop must have a hand wash basin, a separate basin for cleaning equipments, liquid soap and an automated hand dryer. Hand Hygiene Australia states that hands should be washed both before and after attending a client, after removing gloves and after completing the procedure of piercing. Sterilization Sterilization is normally done for the instruments that are used by the piercing shop in piercing. The instruments especially the needle that penetrates the skin, are prone to be in contact with the body or other body substances and those that can be sterilized readily. Sterilization should be done when the substance is reused (Goicochea, 2017). Piercing devices like needle, tapers, forceps and many other things like these are sterilized either by any alcohol or heating it before use and is disposed of as soon as the piercing is done. Devices that normally do not come in contact with the skin or the mucous and those that are liable to be damaged by heat are sterilized by high-level disinfection. The materials are disinfected by scrubbing with soap or detergents or any other disinfectants. Some materials are also sterilized by autoclaving which helps to remove the any contaminants to a large extent. Sterilization of the used materials should be done according to the AS/NZS 4815:2006 and the equipments are thoroughly cleaned. Consent to the Public Health Regulation 2012 will be given which emphasize on the safekeeping of the sterilization documents. (Health.nsw.gov.au, 2017). Infection control The reduction in the number of the microorganism is the most efficacious way to prevent the transmission of the pathogenic organisms. This can be achieved by maintain a better hand hygiene. Sterilization of the material used is an effective way to control the infection. The part of the body that is to be pierced should be rinsed with any disinfectant like alcohol. The pierced part is also administered with some antiseptic that prevents any further infection that may occur through the air or surrounding (Paphitis et al., 2015). The piercing shop should be kept clean and this cleanliness is maintained in a regular basis. The needles should not be handled with bare hands as these may enhance the risk of acquiring infection. The shop premises should be cleaned thoroughly in a routine manner and should place a disposal bucket for the waste materials. The law states that those equipments that could not be sterilized should be disposed immediately after use. The needles must be used once and disposed in a specific container according to AS/NZS 4261:1994. The towels and other materials used should be cleaned before each use. The premises of the shop and the work benches should be cleaned and the instruments are used once for each person to prevent the risk of cross contamination. The sterile materials should not be handled with bare hands. The precautions taken to control the standard infection must be maintained in association with the Infection Control Guidelines for Personal Appearance Services 2012. It has provided well defined steps relating to hand hygiene, lesions of the skin, blood exposure and body substances, washing and storage of re-usable instruments (Health.qld.gov.au, 2017). Immunization A personal appearance service can result in the release of the blood or body fluids. These when come in contact with the piercing substances like any sharp may cause serious infections. These penetrations may be the cause of the certain harmful diseases like Hepatitis B or C which tends to become acute or chronic, liver cancer or cirrhosis of liver. The person who has undergone a personal appearance service may also get infected with Human Immuno-deficiency virus or HIV or other disease causing bacteria or viruses. Immunization against Hepatitis B is essential before piercing as Hepatitis is more like to occur (Ji et al., 2014). It is usually transmitted through any cuts or free flowing blood. Tetanus is also the outcome of the piercing. When an unclean sharp substance is used to pierce, the person is more likely to be infected with tetanus (Huynh, Jackson Brodell, 2014). Tetanus vaccine should be given to the person who is undergoing the piercing in order to avoid the infection. Vaccination against other diseases, other than hepatitis B and tetanus are also applied to the piercers. These vaccines include those of the influenza, mumps, rubella and measles. Infection with HCV is also common when a single needed containing blood is reused and poses a great threat to the piercer. Waste disposal The used materials should be disposed immediately after its use. A smooth impermeable container containing a lid is kept where the waste material is disposed regularly after it is used. The container is emptied regularly preventing any further infections to transmit from it (Oyeyemi, Agbaje Okelue, 2015). The sharp needles or other objects should be handled carefully and care should be taken to prevent any injuries that may happen from it. The people associated with the piercing shops should be aware not to make the sharp things accessible to the visitors or clients of the shop. Clinical wastes are produced during tattooing or body piercing where the waste contains a large amount of free flowing blood or body fluids. A waste disposal bin should be kept in a piercing shop according to the Public health legislation. Personal protective equipment or PPE Personal protective equipment or PPE is the equipments that is used for the protection for the safety of the people against any health risk. The items that can be included in the personal protective equipment are the helmets, gloves, protection of eyes or safety footwear (Veenstra, 2015). The part of the skin that is used to pierce should be rinsed with germicide to avoid any infection that is liable to occur after piercing. The piercers should wear sterilized medical gloves after thoroughly rinsing their hands with disinfectants like soap before doing piercing. It is necessary for both the piercer and the pierce to wear a mask. Wearing a mask significantly reduces the contamination that may happen from the exhalation as droplet particles containing microorganisms are expelled out (Kasatpibal et al., 2016). The clothes that are used as a protection from contamination should be changed daily and washed thoroughly to avoid any contamination. Refernces Bergstrm, J., Bodlund, M. (2015). Hygiene standards in the tattoo parlour and practices for prevention of infection. InTattooed Skin and Health(Vol. 48, pp. 228-235). Karger Publishers. Goicochea, E. (2017). Body Piercing and Health Complications Among College Students in Puerto Rico. Health.nsw.gov.au. (2017).How to sterilise your instruments and comply with the Public Health Regulation 2012 - Fact sheets.Health.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 8 September 2017, from https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/environment/factsheets/Pages/how-to-sterilise-instruments.aspx Health.qld.gov.au. (2017).Infection Control Guidelines for Personal Appearance Services 2012.Health.qld.gov.au. Retrieved 8 September 2017, from https://www.health.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0019/430642/infectcontrolguide.pdf Huynh, T. N., Jackson, J. D., Brodell, R. T. (2014). Tattoo and vaccination sites: Possible nest for opportunistic infections, tumors, and dysimmune reactions.Clinics in dermatology,32(5), 678-684. Ji, Z., Wang, T., Shao, Z., Huang, D., Wang, A., Guo, Z., ... Yan, Y. (2014). A population-based study examining hepatitis B virus infection and immunization rates in Northwest China.PLoS One,9(5), e97474. Kasatpibal, N., Whitney, J. D., Katechanok, S., Ngamsakulrat, S., Malairungsakul, B., Sirikulsathean, P., ... Muangnart, T. (2016). Prevalence and risk factors of needlestick injuries, sharps injuries, and blood and body fluid exposures among operating room nurses in Thailand.American journal of infection control,44(1), 85-90. Oyeyemi, O. T., Agbaje, M. O., Okelue, U. B. (2015). Parasite Epidemiology and Control. Paphitis, K., Croteau, S., Davenport, L., Walters, J., Durk, D. (2015). Factors influencing tattooing and body piercing behaviours: a cross-sectional survey of youth and adults in Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph aged 16-35 years.Canadian Journal of Infection Control,30(2). Veenstra, T. (2015). The Amsterdam model for control of tattoo parlours and businesses. InTattooed Skin and Health(Vol. 48, pp. 218-222). Karger Publishers.