C. Difficile Nursing Assignment Help

Essay For All offers C. Difficile Nursing Assignment Help to students who need assistance via our online tutor services. Clostridioides difficile, commonly known as C. Difficile, is a bacterium causing diarrhea and colon inflammation. The prevalence of these infections is approximately half a million annually in the United States. The following are also crucial in understanding its prevalence:

Approximately 1 in 6 patients with this infection are likely to get it again within the next 2-8 weeks
Secondly, one in 11 persons aged over 65 diagnosed with C. difficile is likely to succumb within the next four weeks

The C. difficile bacteria generally causes an infection in a person’s colon. As a result, its symptoms include diarrhea and permanent damage to a person’s large intestine. The illness occurs after the use of antibiotic medications. Older persons admitted to hospitals or long-term care facilities are more vulnerable to this infection. Countries like the United States have continuously enhanced prevention mechanisms to curb infections.

In addition, persons not in care facilities or hospitals can also get C. difficile infection due to bacterium strains in the general population. Previously, C. difficile bacterium was popularly known as Clostridium difficile. The rising rates of this bacterium infection and its adverse impacts on a person’s health make it necessary for nursing students to have adequate knowledge of this condition. Consequently, this will allow them to apply appropriate care whenever they encounter such situations in their work environment.

C. difficile causes and symptoms

Generally, C. difficile is caused by bacteria entering the body through the mouth. The bacteria begin to reproduce in the small intestine when they reach the colon, releasing hazardous toxins that can damage cells, produce inflammatory cells and cellular debris, and results in watery diarrhea. When the bacteria are outside the colon, they are in a dominant state. As a result, they can adapt to different environments. For instance:

They can survive for a long time in human or animal faces
Room surfaces
Unwashed hands
Food
Water and soil

Whenever these bacteria find their way into a person’s digestive system, they become active and produce the infection again. The ability of this bacteria to survive outside the body allows it to be transmitted quickly from such surfaces into the human body. In addition, easy transmission is facilitated through a lack of thorough hand-washing and cleaning approaches. The condition also has different signs and symptoms.

Some individuals carry C. difficile bacteria but never become sick. For this reason, they act as carriers of the bacteria and are likely to spread it to others. In most cases, signs, and symptoms associated with this condition develop within five to ten days after a person begins using antibiotics. However, they may also manifest immediately or three months later. C. difficile symptoms for moderate infections include the following:

For moderate C. difficile infections, a person can have watery diarrhea three or more times within a day
Secondly, they can also experience mild abdominal cramping and tenderness

For severe infections, the symptoms are different. For instance, individuals with C. difficile infection become dehydrated and may be hospitalized for this. Secondly, colon inflammation also occurs under severe conditions resulting in the formation of raw tissue patches that can cause bleeding or pus. The signs and symptoms associated with C. difficile severe infections include the following:

Severe dehydration that can lead to hospitalization
Watery diarrhea ten or fifteen times a day
High white blood cells count
Nausea
Fever

C. difficile risk factors

The C. difficile risk factors increase one’s chances of developing this condition. However, persons without these risk factors have also shown these infections. The leading risk factors associated with this condition include:

Use of antibiotics and other medications

Statistics show that intestines have multiple bacteria cells of different kinds. Most intestinal bacteria protect the body from infections. So, whenever you take or use antibiotics to treat a particular infection, the medications destroy some helpful bacteria besides the bacteria causing the infection. Whenever this happens, the body has less beneficial bacteria to protect it from infections. As a result, C. difficile grows and becomes out of control. Some of the antibiotics linked to this condition include the following:

Penicillin
Clindamycin
Cephalosporin
Proton pump inhibitors

Prolonged stay in a healthcare facility

The second risk factor associated with this condition is staying in a healthcare facility. Research shows that more than 200000 C. difficile cases in the United States occur in elderly persons recently hospitalized for an extended duration. Hospitals, nursing homes, and long-term care facilities are more susceptible to germs, which easily spread. This makes the persons in such facilities to become susceptible to infections. For instance, C. difficile can spread through the following in such facilities:

Bedside tables
Shared facilities, such as toilets and sink
Hands through physical or direct contact
Mobile phones
Remote controls, etc.

Severe illness or medical procedures

Studies show that particular medical procedures expose individuals to C. difficile infections. These medical conditions are:

A weakened immune system from a medical procedure like chemotherapy
Inflammatory bowel disease
Chronic kidney infections

Other risk factors associated with this condition include old age. For instance, research shows that persons aged 65 and above are ten times susceptible to C. difficile. Secondly, having a single C. infection exonerates your chances of having another type.

C. difficile prevention, according to our C. Difficile Nursing Assignment Helpers at Essay For All

Prevention is always better than cure. For this reason, individuals should try their best to keep this infection at bay. Most healthcare facilities use strict infection-control procedures. The measures are pivotal in promoting public health.

The leading cause of this condition is the unnecessary use of antibiotics. So, one of the ways of preventing it is by avoiding the unnecessary use of antibiotics
Hand-washing by hospital workers and thorough hygienic considerations remain pivotal in containing the spread of such infections
Contact precautions also remain key

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