Healthcare Issues
Healthcare is one of the most critical aspects of human life. Health professionals play a crucial role in ensuring people in various settings have a healthy living. Therefore, it is important to have a good understanding of the roles of various service providers. Doctors and Acute Care Nurse Practitioners (ACNPs) are some of the key players whose roles and importance should be understood in the healthcare sector. Understanding the responsibilities of healthcare professionals is essential in the assessment and management of the current COVID-19 pandemic.
Advantages of ACNPs Working with Other Healthcare Professionals
Acute Care Nurse Practitioners (ACNPs) are prepared to manage acute illness patients at an advanced stage, applying diagnostic reasoning and innovative therapeutic involvements. They are essential in the American healthcare setting. These nurses are highly skilled, and they can work in several locations to provide quality care to patients as part of robust, specialized healthcare groups. ACNPs work with patients who undergo sudden, serious illnesses or injuries (Hoffman & Guttendorf, 2017). They also perform intrusive activities such as lumbar punctures, the introduction of intubation, and the placement of central lines (Hoffman & Guttendorf, 2017). Generally, the ACNPs play a critical part in taking care of patients with acute and chronic diseases and injuries, hence their relevance in working with other healthcare professionals.
Doctors’ and ACNP’s Roles
SNPs cannot replace doctors, but they work closely with them to ensure the improvement of the patients’ health. They assimilate roles traditionally performed by doctors, such as requisitioning and interpretation of lab tests and X-rays (Hoffman & Guttendorf, 2017). SNPs are effective in taking care of emergency patients. They work within given guiding principles and protocols to deliver quality service. They have the abilities and understanding, as well as competence, to provide advanced judgments and care to patients in the emergency units (Noris & Melba, 2016). Doctors mainly focus on patients’ treatments, while ACNPs focus on the general care of the patients. They work closely with doctors in the diagnosis and treatment of patients, and their decisions can significantly impact the lives of the sick. They also take care of patients’ pre and post-surgery sessions.
Current News/Data Surrounding the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 has been a global pandemic since the year 2019. Currently, cases of COVID-19 in several countries are reducing as the nations wait for the extensive vaccines to roll out. World Health Organization has approved numerous vaccines which can help in the containment of the virus (“Weekly epidemiological update,” 2021 ). World Health Organization reported a reduction in the number of new cases by 2.7 million from February 8 to February 15, 2021. This was a 16% reduction from the data obtained in the previous week. The reported deaths were also reduced by 81,000 cases, with the recent deaths showing a 10% reduction from the earlier deaths reported. This indicates a reduction of the worldwide cumulative digits to 108.2 million cases since the pandemic began (“Weekly epidemiological update,” 2021). Many nations have laid down rules to enhance social distancing by targeting to save lives by decreasing the speed and extent of the viral infections, thus flattening the curve.
Effectiveness of Social Distancing in Reducing the Spread of COVID-19
Social distancing has been championed by various governments and health organizations since the outbreak of the virus. Reduction of the frequency of close contact among individuals is a useful measure to control the spread of the virus and enhance the protection of the public. It is practiced together with other daily preventive measures to decrease the spread of the virus, COVID-19. The virus is known to quickly spread among individuals who are in close contact. When an infected individual sneeze, coughs, or speaks, the viruses are released into the air and settle on other peoples’ mouths or noses (Matrajt & Leung, 2020). Previous research shows that infected individuals who do not know how symptoms can also spread the virus. Therefore, social distancing becomes an effective precautionary practice for reducing the spread of the pandemic.
COVID-19 virus can stay alive for several hours or days on various surfaces. Physical distancing reduces the chances of contacting contaminated surfaces and infected people outside the household (Marat & Leung, 2020). Physical distancing has substantial effects on the reduction of the spread of the virus (Matrait & Leung, 2020). Distancing leads to the reduction of active cases, which is essential in severe patient management and therapeutic strategies.
The uniqueness of the COVID-19 Virus
COVID-19 is a unique virus that does not have a specific cure so far. SARS-COV2 is the Coronavirus which causes COVID-19 (Wang et al., 2020). It is quite challenging to control the spread of the virus since most of the infected individuals have mild symptoms, although they can still spread the virus to others (Wang et al., 2020). The spread of COVID-19 has been rapid across the globe. Therefore, it affected almost all nations and plunged the world into a pandemic state. The virus’s presentation is similar to the mild flu-like disease in several patients (Zamparini et al., 2020). The relationship between COVID-19 and thromboembolic illnesses attracted the attention of many scientists. The Coronavirus is a positive-stranded RNA virus that is large and enveloped. Its uniqueness is also evident because it has no cure.
Conclusion
In summary, the COVID-19 pandemic is still prevalent in the contemporary world, and there is a need to adopt strategies for reducing its spread. Various governments and health organizations have formulated a number of laws and efforts to reduce the spread of the virus. Vaccine production and social distancing policies have been among the popular strategies in various countries. The role of health professionals in the fight against the virus has also been significant and has to be acknowledged.
References
Hoffman, L., & Guttendorf, J. (2017). Preparation and Evolving Role of the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. Chest, 152(6), 1339-1345. Web.
Matrajt, L., & Leung, T. (2020). Evaluating the effectiveness of social distancing interventions to delay or flatten the epidemic curve of coronavirus disease. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 26(8), 1740-1748. Web.
Wang, Y., Wang, Y., Chen, Y., & Qin, Q. (2020). Unique epidemiological and clinical features of the emerging 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVIDā19) implicate special control measures. Journal of medical virology, 92(6), 568-576. Web.
Weekly epidemiological update (2021). World Health Organization. Web.
Zamparini, J., Venturas, J., & Diana, N. (2020). COVID-19 and the uniqueness of South Africa. Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases, 35(1). Web.