In a 5-6 page paper, identify risks of potential health problems related to infection control during a disaster or catastrophic event.
Introduction
Think about a recent or past disaster or catastrophic event that occurred in your local community. Imagine you’ve been invited to participate in your local community taskforce to address future occurrence of this type of disaster. Your first step will be putting together a paper that identifies risks of potential health problems related to infection control during the disaster.
Your team realizes that a couple of key factors come into play when we think about disease and stopping the chain of infection:
Physical elements, such as contaminated water, air, or soil in a disaster.
Impacted populations, especially the different characteristics and needs of people in affected communities that raise or lower risks resulting from the physical impacts.
Part of those person-centered needs will include different communication needs based on different groups of people.
Physical and biopsychosocial elements very much overlap in any kind of infection control crisis. You’ll consider both as you assess risks of infection resulting from the potential disaster you’re looking at.
Preparation
Your choice of what kind of natural or man-made disaster or catastrophic event you want to prepare for and the affected location and communities will carry through all three assessments in the course. So if you haven’t already, spend time gathering information to help you make that choice based on a recent or past disaster that affected your local community. Also spend time researching the decision-making approach you want to use to assess the potential risks and needs.
Instructions
In your 5–6 page paper:
Apply a decision-making approach to assess potential health problems and needs related to infection control risks in a disaster situation.
The heart of your paper will be assessing the potential risks of infection, given the particular kind of potential disaster and location you’ve chosen to focus on—and the populations that would be affected.
You’ll need to articulate not only the risks and potential needs, but the decision-making process you used to arrive at these. So articulate how you’ve applied a decision-making process.
Apply personalized information, such as the needs of different demographic groups and environmental exposure information, in the identification of healthcare risks.
You’ll assess specific needs of the different affected populations of the location you’ve selected.
Integrate epidemiological and system-level aggregate data to determine healthcare outcomes and trends.
Research the most current data about the risks and infection control related to the situation you’ve selected, and incorporate the local data to support why you’ve prioritized those risks the way you have.
Explain needs for communicating effectively with community individuals to help them make informed choices about mitigating risk of infection.
What will be the needs and challenges for communicating effectively with the different affected populations and communities you’ve identified, and why?
Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly communication standards.
Is your paper clear and persuasive for the different people who make up your professional audience, and does it use APA style?
Additional Requirements
To achieve a successful assessment experience and outcome, you are expected to meet the following requirements.
Written communication: Make sure your writing is succinct and clear, and is free of errors that detract from the overall message.
Resources: Include a minimum of three current scholarly sources (peer-reviewed articles, books, websites, and dissertations) to support your case.
APA formatting: Resources and citations are formatted according to current APA style and formatting guidelines. Refer to the Evidence and APA section of the Writing Center for guidance.
Length: 5–6 double-spaced pages, not including title and reference pages.
Font and font size: Times New Roman, 12 point.
Competencies Measured
By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the following course competencies and scoring guide criteria:
Competency 1: Design person-centered care that integrates biological, psychological, and social factors and considers their complex interactions.
Apply a decision-making approach to assess potential health problems and needs related to infection control risks in a disaster situation.
Apply personalized information, such as the needs of different demographic groups and environmental exposure information, in the identification of healthcare risks.
Competency 2: Propose improvements to system-level interventions to protect populations.
Integrate epidemiological and system-level aggregate data to determine healthcare outcomes and trends.
Competency 4: Propose communication tools and techniques that can improve interprofessional team dynamics and strengthen partnerships to achieve effective outcomes.
Explain needs for communicating effectively with community individuals to help them make informed choices about mitigating risk of infection.
Competency 5: Communicate effectively with diverse audiences, in an appropriate form and style, consistent with organizational, professional, and scholarly standards.
Convey purpose, in an appropriate tone and style, incorporating supporting evidence and adhering to organizational, professional, and scholarly communication standards.
