Some of the major problems in the healthcare field arise from severe sepsis and septic shock affecting millions of people globally every year. Acute hypoxemic respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a complex condition that results from severe sepsis. According to the World Health Organization, health promotion is the act of enhancing people to increase their control over individual health and its determinants, hence improving their health. Health promotion involves all activities that encourage the prevention of a certain disorder rather than the curative care model. The paper addresses some of the health promotion and risk reduction activities of a patient who had developed a complication of ARDS through sepsis.
Preventing sepsis can greatly assist in reducing the contraction of ARDS. Proper treatment of sepsis and related infection of ARDS is one of the health promotion strategies. The medication should be aimed at fighting bacterial, viral, fungal, and parasitic infections which are associated with sepsis and ARDS. Additionally, the maintenance of proper hygiene can help in preventing sepsis. For the patient with severe complications of ARDS, washing hands with a sanitizer can significantly help in reducing the complexity of the disease. Besides, vaccinations against chicken pox, tetanus, and polio reduce the severity of sepsis and consequently help in the fight against ARDS. The patient’s wounds should be taken good care of because failure to do so will pave way for bacteria to enter the body causing more infections which worsen the condition. The wounds should be washed regularly and the physician should monitor them for any signs of infections.
There are various risk factors for ARDS. Some of these include cigarette smoking, obesity, low protein in the blood, abuse of alcohol, current high-risk surgery, and chemotherapy. Therefore, the risk reduction strategies for ARDS involve activities such as discouraging cigarette smoking, discouraging alcoholism, weight control, eating high protein-rich foods, and discouraging surgeries and chemotherapy. In conclusion, sepsis accounts for the majority of the cases of ARDS hence implementing health promotion and risk reduction strategies of sepsis can significantly assist in reducing the severity of ARDS.
