New diseases and the role of nurse professionals to understand them
Nurses are frontline health caregivers. They play critical roles in the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of diseases. When new diseases emerge, nurses are at the center of the entire process of understanding them and relaying information. Their response determines whether the condition will become a pandemic.
New diseases emerge from the evolution of existing organisms or unknown pathogens spreading to new populations. Since the nurses are at the grass-root level, they come into contact with the patient. Nurses should raise the alarm whenever they suspect a new disease. They should work together with the government, professionals, and agencies in restraining its spread.
Nurses should scrutinize the patient to understand the symptoms, causes, prevention, and ways of transmission. They should then inform the government and the community health workers to facilitate the isolation of suspected cases before they spread to the entire community. They should also analyze the pathogens that cause these new infections and relay the information as it unveils.
The spread of new diseases is affected by various factors, such as social and environmental determinants. It is the nurses’ role to access how the pathogens causing these new diseases are affected by environmental factors. They should also evaluate social determinants such as genetics, socioeconomic status, biological and behavioral factors, and how they affect the prevalence of a disease.
These factors affect not only the spread of the disease but also the mortality rate. Failure of the nurses to offer interventions fast leads to the widespread of new infections leading to epidemics. During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa, the International Council of Nurses issued a statement advocating reducing travel to lessen the transmission of the disease.
The nurses should get enough protective gear to prevent them from contacting the diseases. In the case of epidemics, they should collaborate with international nurses in finding a solution. The scarcity of nurses globally is a significant issue; rural areas are the most affected. The shortage of nurses affects the elimination of health disparities.
Nurses’ participation in building awareness and educating the public is essential. The position of nurses allows them to interact with patients and the community. They should work together with legislators and other professionals to implement and evaluate initiatives to curtail and eradicate new diseases. They should also research to find out the type of medications that can cure these infections.
References
Stone, Patricia W., et al. “Nurses’ working conditions: implications for infectious disease.” Emerging infectious diseases 10.11 (2004): 1984.
Rodman, Jane Somsel, Floyd Frost, and Walter Jakubowski. “Using nurse hotline calls for disease surveillance.” Emerging infectious diseases, 4.2 (1998): 329.
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