Female Healthcare Workers

I am a female aged forty five years and have worked as a health worker for more than ten years. I have ever suffered an infectious disease in my workplace in more than one occasion .I contracted the infection when a patient suffering from the infection sneezed when I was treating her. Droplets containing the infectious disease were transferred from the patient to me. The infection really affected my work as I became less effective. It went to a point that I could not be able to go to work to reduce the chances of infecting others. Infectious diseases are caused by viruses, bacteria or fungi. The particular infectious disease that I contracted was bacterial, and took antibiotics against the bacteria.

Healthcare workers are at a risk of contracting infectious disease mostly those that are caused by blood borne pathogens as a result of occupational exposure to body fluids and blood. They also have an increased risk of contracting TB and other infectious diseases that are emerging such as avian influenza and acute respiratory syndrome. To prevent myself from contracting the infectious diseases I take precautions like ensuring I wash my hands before, and after any contact with body fluids or blood from infected patients. I always ensure I wear personal protective equipment and clothing in instances that I am exposed to blood, aerosols or other body fluids which might carry infectious materials .I ensure that I avoid risky behavior whenever I am handling sharp instruments such as needles, scissors, blades and scalpels. I always ensure that I dispose off the sharp instruments in appropriate containers.

I face challenges such as lack of proper protective clothing available in the health centre. For instance there are only a few masks that are made available for the health workers to use. Gloves are used everyday by all health care workers, and in many instances it takes almost an hour before fresh gloves are brought in. To deal with these challenges I ensure that I always carry with me my own mask and box of gloves. Through this I can always be sure that I will be protected all the time when carrying out my duties even if these things lack or are in short supply in the centre.

The administration plays a very big role in trying to protect the health workers from infections such as ensuring that we are vaccinated against the common infectious diseases. Through the immunization programs the immunity of health workers is maintained .This prevents the health workers from contracting common infectious diseases. The administration provides the health workers with protective equipment and has policy that the protective equipments are disposed or disinfected before health workers leave the work area. Within the centre the administration ensures that all the equipment is sterilized after being used.

The current policies in place ensure that there are minimal chances of contracting the infectious diseases and they hence protect me from the risk of infection. The administration should ensure that they are strict and adhere to the policies in place to protect health workers from infectious diseases.