[Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/health-and-social-care-family-carers%E2... ]
Thank you for sharing your paper co-authored with Julie Storr and Holly Seale. Below are the citation and abstract, and a comment from me.
CITATION: The relevance of nursing to the achievement of person-centred infection prevention and control
Julie Storr Claire Kilpatrick, and Holly Seale. Journal of Research in Nursing
Volume 30, Issue 1
https://doi.org/10.1177/17449871241281437
ABSTRACT
This opinion paper addresses the role of nurses and the relevance of models and theories, both nursing and infection prevention and control (IPC), to visitor restrictions that were widely enforced in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on person-centredness. It outlines the social utility of nursing, reflecting on whether what happened during this period has made nursing theories more less relevant. It suggests that IPC guidance, rooted in a historic biomedical model, has had a tendency not to consider the impact that the precautionary measures it recommends, rather than the infections themselves, might have on the quality of life of people receiving healthcare. A key driver of the visitor restrictions seemed to be the pursuit of this biomedical model across the health system that was at odds with the person-centred theories of nursing. The paper questions the limitations of focusing on a biomedical logic for guiding the ethics of nursing. The IPC community working with the nursing profession, recapturing some of the theoretical principles of person-centred approaches, could help build a blueprint for compassionate IPC decision-making for the future. The paper outlines seven policy, practice and research considerations that might address the issues raised.
COMMENT (NPW): This is a powerful piece. I remember during the pandemic how Jules Storr (a member of the HIFA Steering Group) and you drew attention to the huge emotional harm caused by separating family members in the name of infection prevention. FFrom the HIFA perspective of 'meeting information needs' this is a reminder that a strictly technical, biological approach - whereby the sole objective is infection control - may not always be appropriate when it is accompanied by suffering. Any guidance for nursing and other prefessional staff should take into account the psychosocial as well as the biomedical aspects of care.
I see that you advocate that 'International and national IPC guidance and implementation resources must address principles of person-centredness' and that 'Policy briefs should be available and must focus on person-centred mitigations associated with the non-transmission related consequences of each element of the hierarchy of controls'. Has there been any progress in these areas?
Looking more widely, perhaps there is a case for future guidance (even beyond IPC) to routinely consider the psychosocial impacts of interventions? Are there other areas of health care where biomedical interventions can inadvertently cause psychological harm?
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org