Reference no: EM133510364

Question

Social determinants of health are factors that influence an individual's health outcomes (CDC, 2022). They are conditions in which individuals are born, live, learn, work, worship, and age, which affect how these individuals function and their quality of life. If individuals don't have access to quality food, healthcare, and treatment, then they can expect a decline in their health outcomes. About 1 in 10 people don't have health insurance in the United States.

The communicable disease chain model is designed to explain the spread of disease from one host to another (Van Seventer et al., 2017). The steps in the communicable disease chain model include infection agent (microbes, virulence etc.), reservoirs, portal of exit, mode of transmission, portal of entry, and susceptible host. The basic idea behind this model is to show that an individual can break the chain or reduce the risk at any point during the spread. This is powerful to understand, as individuals can take precautions to stop the spread of the disease. The nurse can take steps to break the link within the communicable disease chain by implementing preventive measures. Initially, some preventive measures could include education, hand washing, using disinfectants, and administering prophylactic antibiotics. For the patient who is harboring the infection, the nurse could implement isolation, surveillance, and treatment with medications. The purpose of this model is to analyze where the patient is within the disease process and take the necessary precautions to stop the spread and reduce the risk of contamination.