Danger for HHA’s: unsanitary household conditions
Home-based medical care entails the persevering and personalized care of a patient’s medical symptoms or disabilities right in the patient’s home. Home care workers can provide round-the-clock care and hands-on attention to patients.
These professionals, who could also be personal/homecare support professionals, companions, certified nursing assistants (CNA) or home health nurses, are usually employed by home health agencies.
Because of their training and work duties, they assist patients throughout the activities of daily living such as meal preparation, bathing, getting dressed, and performing housekeeping tasks. Doctors may also order a variety of medical procedures, such as wound care, blood pressure taking, and range of motion exercises.
HHA’s and Unsanitary Houses
Home health care professionals (e.g. home health aide, personal care aides, nurses, etc.) are worried about the spread of infectious disease within the household on account of accounting for unsanitary conditions.
Home health care and medical personnel who are in close contact with patients are at high risk for exposure to infectious diseases.
Contamination (e.g., transfer from direct and indirect contact with the feces, animals, and materials of microorganisms) can put those in a poor state of health at risk.
Home health aides have few control at work places which may contain various safety and health challenges. Obstacles which could include biohazards and biological threats, latex allergies, ergonomic risks arising from patient handling, violence, abusive patients, aggressive animals, and unhygienic and dangerous conditions could exist.
[In addition, if their duties necessitate providing care to multiple patients, they expose themselves to risks while driving between homes.]Bathroom bacteria
One household-related concern in this regard is the bathroom.
The dispersion and survivability of microbes in the lavatory and the presence of droplets formed during flushing could result in their spread on various restroom surfaces and lead to their surviving for long periods of time.
In certain cases, this can present a problem, such as when the quantity of harmful bacteria or hosts is particularly high, or when a host is particularly susceptible.
Laundry hygiene
Household laundry also poses a threat for the spread of disease to a home health aide.
Reviews showed that changes in domestic hygiene practices—such as lower temperatures, less use of household bleach, and lower water pressure—had an adverse impact on laundry hygiene in general. The additional risk this posed to healthcare patients was brought to light by these changes.
Chlorine bleach is an inexpensive, broad-spectrum chemical germicide that heightens the effectiveness of laundry. Chlorine bleach is not, however, a suitable laundry additive for all fabrics.
Kitchen dangers
Certain studies have also shown how microorganisms found in uncooked or undercooked vegetables, such as poultry, can cause health issues in family members, including those who are particularly vulnerable to disease due to their age or illness.
Kitchen area surfaces, rags, sponges, mops, and other sanitation products may spread bacteria and cause infection in the home care setting.
Increasing rates of vulnerable people in society exposed to infection means that family members whose immunity is compromised, such as those discharged from the hospital, patients on immunosuppressant drugs or those who use special breathing equipment, are more challenging to safely look after at home.
