Prevention from Disease

Mod 2 Discussion

Prevention can simply be defined as the act of hindering something from happening. One of the most important aspects of prevention is to identify where in the disease’s natural history is the most effective spot for an intervention to take place (Friis & Sellers, 2014). I would like to discuss the yearly health concern of Influenza. Working in a hospital setting I have seen the prevention process of this first hand and the changes that have taken place of the past few years. Upon hire at the University of Michigan, whether you are in are around patients or not you are required to have an occupational health services visit to review and administer any needed vaccines. I was hired about six years ago and during my occupational health services visit I bought a list of my vaccine records from my primary care doctor. I happened to be due for my tetanus and flu shots. They also require a TB test. I had never received my chickenpox vaccine due to having them as a child and there for a blood sample was taken.

Primary prevention takes place in the prepathogenesis stage and occurs when actions are taken in effort to reduce the occurrence of a disease (Friis & Sellers, 2014). In regards to Influenza the main primary prevention would be to get the Influenza vaccine. Some smaller primary preventions would be during flu season to frequently wash hands, not sharing personal items like drinks, and to clean frequently touched items. At my work if you were around patient care areas you were required to get the vaccine and just over the past two years it has now become a requirement for clinic and non-clinic employees to receive the vaccine. For employees that have a religious belief or medical condition that prevents them from receiving the vaccine they are required to submit an exemption form by a certain date. Then once our Infection Prevention and Epidemiology team notify employees the flu season begins they are required to wear a mask in all patient care areas.

Secondary prevention takes place in the pathogenesis stage and works towards early diagnosis and prompt treatment of the disease (Friis & Sellers, 2014). When it comes to the flu secondary prevention can be as simple as covering your nose and mouth when you cough or sneeze, after wash your hands, washing hands often, continuing to clean surfaces you touch to stop the spread of germs, and taking over the counter medicines