Patient, Family, or Population Health Problem Solution – Antibiotic Resistance

Antimicrobial resistance has increasingly gained recognition across global healthcare systems. Global efforts to curb this problem are increasingly focusing on preventive approaches, emphasizing the need to control its spread. However, the success of these efforts will depend on individuals’, caregivers’, and organizational commitment to controlling this problem. This paper outlines the role of leadership, healthcare collaborations, nursing standards, policies, and technology in addressing antibiotic resistance.

I selected this health issue because of the urgency it attracts. Antimicrobial resistance remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. It also threatens healthcare advances attained over the past decades. As antibiotic resistance continues to spread and cause problems for healthcare systems worldwide, nurses are implored to take a much more active role in ending this problem. As a nurse, I feel it is my professional mandate and my moral and ethical obligation to protect and promote community lives by joining the fight against antibiotic resistance. Community members also have a role to play. Their collective effort towards ending this problem ensures a better guarantee of success.

The role of Leadership and Change management in Addressing Antibiotic Resistance

Leadership plays a role in guiding the development of infection control improvement standards. To excel in these roles, leaders must demonstrate effective leadership strategies such as being good communicators, having good interpersonal skills, and maintaining transparency when engaging their subjects. As a nurse leader, I plan to utilize these strategies when developing an intervention plan against antibiotic resistance. Through these approaches, I will be able to influence other nurses and patients to join the fight against antibiotic resistance. Effective leadership is augmented by utilizing effective change management strategies when implementing the change processes. These strategies include establishing a clear organizational vision, supporting employees through the change process, and ensuring two-way communication between the organizational leadership and employees. For this reason, I will consider these change management strategies when developing a plan to address antibiotic resistance.

Nursing ethics guide nurses’ clinical decision-making process and nursing roles in healthcare. The ethical principle of beneficence, which requires nurses to do good, remains pivotal in designing health promotion plans on antibiotic resistance. It enables caregivers to make decisions that promote the welfare and safety of their patients. By developing standards that guide infection control improvements, I will be promoting my patients’ welfare and well-being as per the provisions of the ethical principle of beneficence.

Developing and optimizing infection control improvement standards remains an important plan addressing antibiotic resistance. This plan draws caregivers, healthcare agencies, and communities. It is a multi-directional approach that targets everyone who uses antibiotics. The goal is to ensure the prudent use of antibiotics by both caregivers and patients to slow the emergence and spread of antibiotic resistance patterns. I intend to educate other nurses and caregivers on the significance of developing and optimizing infection control improvement standards. Through this approach, nurses and other caregivers will be informed about standards that guide infection control, the judicious use of antibiotics, and the significance of this approach to the fight against antibiotic resistance.