Woodland Heights Medical Center: Low Vaccination Rates Among Health Care Workers - Essay Sample

Introduction

From the gap analysis, it was established that the Woodland Heights Medical Center has a very low number of health care workers injected against the influenza vaccine. The national and Texas have a vaccination index of 89% and 90%, respectively, while Woodland Heights Medical Center has a vaccination index of 66% (Woodland Heights Medical Center, 2020). The data shows that the health care workers at Woodland Heights Medical Center vaccinated against influenza flu are very few. The implementation of the health care worker influenza measure guideline is very low at the hospital leading to the small number of HCW vaccinated. The hospital applies a few preventive measures towards ensuring that the HCW is vaccinated against influenza flu, and this creates a loophole that the workers exploit. Although it the responsibility of the healthcare facility to ensure that the HCW is immunized against the flu, even the HCW is responsible for ensuring that they are vaccinated to safeguard themselves. Every HCW is accountable for his or her health and is hence responsible for ensuring he is vaccinated against the flu. It is, therefore, not fair to brain the health care facility alone and leaving out the HCW themselves while being ignorant of the preventive measure. The lack of a good number of people vaccinated against the flu implies that the rate at which the disease can spread is high in case there is an outbreak. Besides, the HCW are at high risk of contracting the influenza flu from the patients whom they treat and encounter with daily.

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The learning need based on the clinical problem is to improve knowledge, bridge the gap, and understand the principles and intention of getting vaccinated against the influenza flu. Providing knowledge about the significance of having the vaccine is essential since it helps to create a healthcare force that is well prepared to face the disease.

NPD Practitioner Model

Inputs

The learners are a specific population of health care providers, specifically working at Woodland Heights Medical Center. The education plan will also cover the students on attachment and going to various hospitals. The HCW is the vulnerable population and the ones identified in the analysis gap. HCW meets with patients from anywhere from the world coming for the treatment, making them highly susceptible to contracting the disease. In case the flu gets them, the possibility of them contacting a large number of people is high. The healthcare workers will be taught about the significance of having the vaccine to prevent themselves from developing or contracting the disease. The target will be to train them in the importance of receiving the vaccine so that the number of HCW vaccinated go up.

Throughputs

An NPD practitioner plays a critical role in acting as the learning facilitator (Harper & Maloney, 2016). To achieve the desired outcome of ensuring more HCW get vaccinated, the NPD practitioner will facilitate learning among the target population in the health care facility. The practitioner also works as a leader; hence in this learning module, the NPD practitioner will work as the leader and thus coordinate every aspect of the training session. Since the beginning, the practitioner will ensure that every person receives the necessary training and ensure that every activity proceeds as planned without failure. The practitioners also work as a partner for practice transition and as a change agent and in this regard, they will work to see a smooth transition from the previous conventional believe and way of doing things to 100% vaccination against influenza vaccine.

Responsibilities of the NPD Practitioner

An NPD practitioner is responsible for promoting professional development through the identification and development of the strategies that aid the continuous process of lifelong learning (American Nurses Association, 2000). To address the problem of low vaccination index at Woodland Heights Medical Center, NPD practitioners will develop and design the learning program and identify the most suitable strategies that can be used to ensure learners assimilate the course content. He will also come up with roles that every facilitator will play during the learning process to accomplish the learning objectives and further orient them for successful implementation.

Outputs

It is anticipated that after the learning process, all the participants will get a better understanding of the importance of the vaccine and hence change their way of thinking towards influenza vaccination. As a result of their change in the thinking, more people will get vaccinated

The target group will learn about the vaccine, the benefits, and the possible adverse effects of not getting vaccinated. The NPD practitioner will also gain more competence in the professional role and become a more qualified practitioner. The competency gained will be critical in aiding the provision of optimal care that gives rise to educational interventions.

Reflection

The scope of the practice of the NPD Practitioner goes beyond providing the education since it encompasses gaining exposure to the roles and responsibilities of the NPD practitioner. The experience is essential since it exposes one to the professional requirements of an NPD practitioner.

References

American Nurses Association. (2000). Scope and standards of practice for nursing professional development. Washington, DC

Harper M. G., Maloney P. (2016). Nursing professional development: Scope and standards of practice (3rd ed.). Chicago, IL: ANPD.

Woodland Heights Medical Center. (2020). Retrieved from Woodland Heights Medical Center: https://www.woodlandheights.net/