Precautions Are Better Than Cure
Promotion of healthy lifestyles and the prevention of ill health is a fundamental principle behind public health and improving the public’s health. The phrase ‘prevention is better than cure’ is often attributed to the Dutch philosopher Desiderius Erasmus in around 1500.
It is now a fundamental principle of modern health care and inherent within health and social care strategies across the UK (See: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales ). Prevention is about tackling the upstream causes of ill health, this in itself is not controversial. The challenge is how it is paid for.
See: King’s Fund – Prevention is better than cure, except when it comes to paying for it, The results are not easily measured, because it is not easy to see where illness has not occurred. The UK has a rich history of focusing on prevention, from Edward Jenner’s smallpox vaccine in 1796 to John Snow using data analytics to determine the cause of the cholera outbreak in 1854.
While there has been huge progress across many public health trends, life expectancy in the UK has stalled and in some parts of the UK, has even decreased. There are worrying trends in health inequalities, with an unprecedented reversal in life expectancy for some groups and stark inequalities between healthy life expectancy between the most and least deprived areas.
Increasing rates of alcohol and drugs-related deaths and hospitalisations, STIs, and obesity and a shift in the pattern of ill health towards multiple health conditions are also indicative of the need for action. Nursing is essentially about providing quality evidence-based care and support to individuals and populations to improve health and well-being throughout life.
In the past, public health has been seen as a niche specialty far removed from the typical image of nursing and only practiced by those with very specific qualifications. Nursing and midwifery staff are now increasingly recognised as instrumental in improving and supporting the public’s health at an individual, community and population level.
All nursing and midwifery staff are well placed to do this and need to embrace the contribution they can make to prevention. The ongoing challenge is having enough staff with the skills and time to make this essential contribution. The RCN have been campaigning for many years for a greater focus on prevention with adequate funding.
- This is particularly pertinent in England, following the transfer of funding for public health to local authorities in 2013 and thereafter significant year on year cuts to local authority budgets and to the public health grant.
- The RCN welcomed the announcement in the recent 2019 spending review of a real terms increase to the public health grant, which we see as a step in the right direction.
However, indications are that the increase will likely fall short of the amount needed to offset the years of cuts and is not based on an assessment of population need. Improving public health and preventing ill health is about more than health services; and requires action to address the wider determinants of health, for example, education, transport and employment, which need to be addressed alongside health services in a more systematic way and with cross-government action and investment.
- The RCN’s commitment is for a properly funded cross-government prevention strategy with a nursing workforce who are able to deliver this.
- We are calling for a long term sustainable investment in public health and prevention, which is based on assessment of population need and an understanding of health inequalities.
The RCN has key alliances with a number of organisations to support lobbying on public health. For example we are members of the Alcohol Health Alliance who have recently called for £1 billion spent in tax to alcohol industry to be spent on funding 40,000 nurse vacancies.
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What are the 4 standard precautions?
Hand hygiene. Use of personal protective equipment (e.g., gloves, masks, eyewear). Respiratory hygiene / cough etiquette. Sharps safety (engineering and work practice controls).
What is precautions?
Precaution. noun. pre·cau·tion pri-ˈkȯ-shən. : care taken in advance : foresight. : a measure taken beforehand to prevent harm or to bring about a good result.
Why do we need to prevent and control diseases?
Infection control practices are critical to reduce the transmission of infections from one person to another, such as from a healthcare worker to a patient or vice versa. See: Everyday healthy habits that prevent the spread of disease. Infection control practices for health care settings and long-term care facilities.
Which of the following is the best way to prevent the spread of disease?
COVID-19 and Your Health Important update: Healthcare facilities CDC has updated select ways to operate healthcare systems effectively in response to COVID-19 vaccination. How to Protect Yourself and Others There are many ways your actions can help protect you, your household, and your community from severe illness from COVID-19.
- Provide information about the amount of severe illness in the community where you are located to help you decide when to take action to protect yourself and others.
- In addition to basic health and hygiene practices, like, CDC recommends some prevention actions at all COVID-19 hospital admission levels, which include: Put together your COVID-19 plan so you have all the information you need on hand if you get sick with COVID-19.
Download, edit and save, and share your plan with your family, friends, and healthcare provider. File Details: 561 KB, 3 pages To find COVID-19 vaccine locations near you: Search, text your ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233. (moving air into, out of, or within a room) and filtration (trapping particles on a filter to remove them from the air) can help prevent virus particles from accumulating in indoor air. Improving ventilation and filtration can help protect you from getting infected with and spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.
Bringing in as much outdoor air as possible—for example, opening windows. Increasing air filtration in your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system, such as by changing filters frequently and using filters that are properly fitted and provide higher filtration. Using portable high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) cleaners. Turning on exhaust fans and using other fans to improve air flow. Turning your thermostat to the “ON” position instead of “AUTO” to ensure your HVAC system provides,
CDC’s interactive ventilation tools can help you see how much you can improve ventilation in your or, You are less likely to be infected with COVID-19 during outdoor activities because virus particles do not build up in the air outdoors as much as they do indoors. if you have, A viral test tells you if you are infected with the virus that causes COVID-19. If you have COVID-19 symptoms, you should get tested for COVID-19 immediately. If you have been exposed to COVID-19 and do not have symptoms, you should test 5 full days after your exposure.
If you do not test at the right time, you are more likely to get an inaccurate test result. You may choose to get a PCR test at a testing site or healthcare facility. PCR tests are more likely to detect the virus compared to antigen tests. Rapid antigen tests provide results quickly and are available at testing sites or for use at-home.2 negative antigen tests (if you have symptoms) or 3 negative antigen tests (if you do not have symptoms), performed 2 days (48 hours) apart to be confident that you do not have COVID-19.
Even when you don’t have symptoms or a recent exposure to COVID-19, testing may help you make informed decisions about your health and your risk of spreading COVID-19 to others, especially those who are at, If you were exposed to someone with COVID-19, you may have been infected with the virus. Follow CDC’s recommendations for, This includes wearing a high-quality mask when indoors around others (including inside your home) for 10 days, testing, and monitoring yourself for symptoms. If you have COVID-19, you can spread it to others, even if you do not have symptoms. If you have symptoms, get tested and stay home until you have your results. If you have tested positive (even without symptoms), follow CDC’s . These recommendations include staying home and away from others for at least 5 days (possibly more, depending on how the virus affects you) and wearing a high-quality mask when indoors around others for a period of time. Effective treatments are now widely available and free, and you may be eligible.
Contact your healthcare provider,, or to learn about, Don’t delay! Treatment must be started within a few days after you first develop symptoms to be effective. If you don’t have timely access to a healthcare provider, check if a is in your community. You can get tested, receive a prescription from a healthcare provider (either onsite or by telehealth), and have it filled all at one location.
Avoiding contact with people who have COVID-19, whether or not they feel sick, can reduce your risk of catching the virus from them. If possible, avoid being around a person who has COVID-19 until they can, Sometimes it may not be practical for you to stay away from a person who has COVID-19 or you may want to help take care of them. Masks are made to contain droplets and particles that you breathe, cough, or sneeze out. A variety of masks are available. Some masks provide a higher level of protection than others. Respirators (for example, N95) are made to protect you by fitting closely on the face to filter out particles, including the virus that causes COVID-19. Small particles that people breathe out can contain virus particles. The closer you are to a greater number of people, the more likely you are to be exposed to the virus that causes COVID-19. To avoid this possible exposure, you may want to avoid crowded areas, or keep distance between yourself and others. These actions also protect people who are at in settings where there are, : COVID-19 and Your Health
