Types of Agents (Nursing)

00:01 Today, we're going to talk about Types of Agents.

00:04 Now there are five different types of agents: biological, chemical, nutrient, physical, and psychological.

00:12 But before we talk about the five different types of agents, I want to make sure everyone understands what an agent is.

00:19 An agent is simply something that causes harm to a human.

00:23 So let's look at each in detail.

00:26 Starting first with biological agents.

00:30 Biological agents include bacteria, viruses, fungi, protozoa, worms, and insects.

00:37 So for example, the influenza virus, that's a biological agent.

00:43 Next, we have chemical agents.

00:45 And chemical agents come in a variety of different forms.

00:48 They can be liquid, solid, gas, they can also be dust or fumes.

00:54 So an example of a chemical agent would be pesticides that we use in our garden to keep the pests away from eating our vegetables.

01:02 Another example are industrial chemical wastes.

01:07 The next type of agent we have here is nutrient agents.

01:11 Now, a nutrient agent is simply an essential dietary component that could produce harm if it's taken an excess or if there's not enough of it.

01:20 So as an example, Vitamin D deficiency can cause rickets.

01:25 On the other hand, too much vitamin A could be toxic to a human.

01:30 Next, we have physical agents.

01:32 And there's a few different types of physical agents, so let me walk you through each of them.

01:37 First, we have mechanical physical agents.

01:39 Now this could be something like an automobile.

01:42 It could also be something as simple as a rug that's on the floor that you trip over when you're walking.

01:47 Both are examples of mechanical physical agents.

01:52 Next, we have a material physical agent.

01:54 Here we see rocks from a rock slide.

01:58 Next, we have atmospheric physical agents.

02:01 A great example of that is ultraviolet radiation.

02:06 Then we have a geologic physical agent, like an earthquake.

02:11 And then finally, we have genetic physical agents.

02:14 And when we have anything that's genetically transmitted from person to person, that's considered a physical agent.

02:21 Now with physical agents, the size, shape and force of the physical agent influences the degree of the harm to the host.

02:29 So the larger the force, the bigger the size, the more harm can be done to a host.

02:36 And finally, we have psychological agents.

02:39 Now, psychological agents are really anything that can cause you stress, because we know that stress negatively impacts our health.

02:46 Now, it's important to remember that stress is different for everyone.

02:50 So it stresses me out may not stress you on at all and vice versa.

02:54 So it's important that we understand the perceptions of our patients and our populations.

02:59 So examples of psychological agents could be not feeling safe in your neighborhood where you live.

03:05 You could also have stress related to work or school.

03:08 So that anatomy exam that you have coming up could be a psychological agent for you.

03:14 Now, understanding the type of agent that's causing harm to a patient or to a population is important.

03:20 It allows us to develop an intervention that's appropriate that will stop that specific type of agent from causing harm.

03:27 So let's take a look at an example.

03:30 Here we have our chemical agent, a pesticide.

03:33 And if we know that this chemical agent is causing harm to an individual or to a population, then we can focus on eliminating that chemical from the environment.

03:43 This is a much better approach than trying to address the harm through say management of nutrients or through physical agents in the environment.

03:51 So again, understanding the type of agent that's causing harm to an individual or group of people helps us address that specific cause and improve the health of the public.