Nurse Assistants and Communicable Diseases

Diseases that can be transferred from one person to another are called communicable diseases. These include diseases like common cold, flu, measles, tuberculosis, HIV, chicken pox and lice. For people having medical problems, the immune system gets weakened and makes them more susceptible to communicable diseases. These diseases can spread through saliva, urine, stool, blood or other bodily fluids. Sneezing also transmits the diseases like common cold.

Being a nursing assistant it is your main responsibility to avoid the spread of communicable diseases. The simplest way to do this is to wash your hands often as you shift from one patient to another. As most of the germs are removed by soap water, nursing assistants are required to wash their hands more often other people because they are constantly in contact with the patients.

It is the duty of nursing assistant to inform the supervisor immediately if they develop the symptoms of any communicable diseases. Then it is the responsibility of the medical facility to take action for the treatment of that disease. You are recommended to stay at home and do not come for the duty till you have the symptoms of the disease. In case of some diseases, you can continue work provided you use a respirator.

There are some communicable diseases that can be cured with the help of antibiotics. These include strep throat and common cold. In such diseases, you can continue your duty but do not forget to wash your hands frequently and take immunizations and vitamins regularly. Knowledge of such communicable diseases is very important for nursing assistants as they need to be very careful and aware of their work environment. If one patient has a communicable disease that has the potential to spread to other patients, it is the duty of nursing assistant to prevent the spread of that disease. Of course, if the nursing assistant himself has a communicable disease, it will definitely put the patients who they are taking care of at risk.

Different medical facilities have different procedures to follow in order to handle spread of communicable diseases. You need to be trained in identifying them and bringing them to the notice of the medical staff. It is the duty of the training agencies to train each nursing assistant in these matters as they are essential to ensure proper care of the patients. Nursing assistants are regularly in contact with patients. So, there is a high probability of them contracting communicable diseases. Wearing rubber gloves while dealing with the patient can prevent the spread of these diseases. Being a nursing assistant you need to keep yourself healthy and take safety measures as far as possible in order to protect yourself from communicable diseases.

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