Recognizing Health Care Worker With Tuberculosis in the Workplace

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Table of Contents

Vulnerable population
Promoting health care delivery
Realities of health disparities
Barriers to health care
Health disparity in vulnerable populations
Workplace evaluation
Action plan
References

Vulnerable population

Tuberculosis is a communicable disease that has latent infection and active disease. According to Field (2001), individuals who develop active disease infect others by coughing or sneezing through expelling tiny Mycobacterium tuberculosis infectious particles that others inhale. The federal government has gazetted numerous healthcare policies that many health workers are not aware. On the other hand, workers that are aware of the health policies do not understand them because of the complex language, and terminologies used in the health documents.

Nurses do not have adequate knowledge in conducting interviews that will help in identifying workmates that are vulnerable to contracting tuberculosis (Hughes, 2014a). Junior staffs including nurses conduct major studies on assessing the vulnerable population to contagious diseases such as tuberculosis among the health workers. The nurses face hindrances in accessing the offices of senior staffs in the hospital due to differences in job group and discrimination in job description (Field, 2001).

Promoting health care delivery

Hughes (2014b) argues that, barriers in the workplace affecting the disparity in promoting health care delivery are job group discrimination, financial status, and educational level. For instance, junior staff in the hospital may have adequate knowledge of preventive measures of tuberculosis, but lack finances to access the quality measures. The minority groups of staff receive a disproportion share in the screening process of vulnerable disease. Unfairness in treatment preference results in the lack of equality on the staffs in the hospital (Hughes, 2014b). The majority of the junior staffs do not get the urgency in seeking treatment especially the contagious infections. According to Field (2001), there are no policies that address issues dealing with health disparities in the workplace.

Realities of health disparities

Proper definition of health disparities will contribute toward creating awareness of health disparities in the workplace. Hughes (2014a) advocates that, every worker should understand the meaning of health disparities, the different types, and the vulnerable population. Different departments in the hospital should have mechanisms of promoting the health of all workers especially on preventable diseases. It is essential to create strategic plans that will cover individual health behaviors toward accessing quality health care without discrimination. Reduction of politics in job employment, career advancement, and receiving health services will help in reducing health disparities among the workers (Hughes, 2014b).

Barriers to health care

Workers in hospitals should be aware of the colleagues’ health, especially those in the same department. According to Clifton-Hawkins (2011), ridicule on fellow health workers limits openness of personal health status, especially chronic and contagious diseases.

Many Americans lack knowledge on the importance of healthcare wellness interventions because they do not attend the educational sessions. Some educational strategies, such as the importance of paying health premiums, have a direct impact on intervention measures. Hospital administration should coordinate with the federal government strategy of creating awareness on wellness interventions through media, conferences, and seminars (Hughes, 2014b). Directors and coordinators of different departments in hospitals should also develop programs that conduct research and develop long-term interventions at the community level (Field, 2001).

Health disparity in vulnerable populations

Barrier to decreasing health disparity in a vulnerable population is mainly lack of health professionals to educate the community on the importance of health awareness (Clifton-Hawkins, 2011). Many Americans are not ready to embrace new strategies of decreasing health disparity among workers in hospitals. The programs offered by the federal government to decrease health disparities are time-consuming, and many citizens are not willing to sacrifice their time. Funding of the health disparities programs is limited and operates in a short period. Coordination of the available programs face difficulties of implementation since they require a high number of volunteers (Clifton-Hawkins, 2011).

Workplace evaluation

Jackson Memorial Hospital receives many multi-resistant disease cases that require integration of specialists in different departments. Policymakers in the hospital are creating awareness on every health worker on the importance of accessing care (Clifton-Hawkins, 2011). The model used in Jackson Memorial Hospital in eliminating barriers of understanding vulnerable population is through filling of evaluation forms.

The evaluation forms require each health worker fill personal details, financial records, structural barriers, priorities in accessing health services, and the presence of mediators. All new workers should undergo mandatory tuberculosis screening before commencing work. Additionally, mandatory tuberculosis screening takes place on all Jackson Memorial staff after every three months, and appropriate intervention follows on the vulnerable population (Clifton-Hawkins, 2011).

Action plan

An action plan of increasing awareness of the vulnerability has relation to the goals of healthy people 2020 (Hughes, 2014b). Healthy people 2020, aims at improving health outcome through increasing awareness on race, geographic location, socioeconomic status, and disability. The action plan involves targeting a selected population within a stipulated period in order to achieve a healthy outcome. The ultimate aim is improving the health of all groups in the workplace and at the community level (Hughes, 2014a). The action plan will identify the population estimate of the United States and categorize the vulnerable population. Different categories of the vulnerable population will obtain the highest level of health awareness with a major focus on eliminating health disparities (Clifton-Hawkins, 2011).

References

Clifton-Hawkins, N. (2011). The four steps of effective evaluation. University of Phoenix. Web.

Field, M. J. (Ed.). (2001). Tuberculosis in the workplace. New York, NY: National Academies Press.

Hughes, J. E. (2014a). How nurses can advocate for their patients. University of Phoenix. Web.

Hughes, J. E. (2014b). How nurses can improve their safety on the job. University of Phoenix. Web.

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