N104: Essentials of Nursing Care - Health Safety

N104: Essentials of Nursing Care – Health Safety Study Guide Implementation Interventions related to the pediatric care might include: • Assess the patients’ and caregivers’ feelings and fears. • Involve the patient and caregivers in all the aspects of care and decision-making. • Assess for external factors that influence compliance with a treatment regimen. • Help the patient's caregivers arrange a daily schedule that incorporates the treatment regimen. • Refer to social services for financial and other assistance. • Refer patient's caregivers to community services for the appropriate follow up after discharge. • Provide education relative to the immunizations, well child care, and health maintenance. • Teach the patient's caregivers about the disease process. • Encourage the caregivers to provide as much care for the patient as possible. • Evaluate the interactions between the child and the caregivers. • Control the child's fever to prevent discomfort for the child. A fever is the body's way of responding to infectious diseases, so eliminating a low-grade fever may not be desirable. Antipyretic medications may be used if ordered by the physician. Reducing air temperature, tepid baths, or applying cool compresses can be effective in reducing fever, but the nurse must be careful not to induce shivering. Shivering increases metabolic requirements and may increase the child's temperature. • Observe for seizures and treat as ordered. • Assess the child's skin for signs of breakdown. • Provide oral hygiene and hair care daily. • Encourage the child to eat by offering small amounts of his favorite foods. These foods should be within the allowable foods for the diet ordered. • Teach parents about good feeding skills and diets. • Watch for signs of depression and intervene early if detected. • Other interventions related to the actual disease or illness should also be included. Evaluation The nursing care plan for pediatric care is successful if the patient has made progress toward the goals established in the planning phase. For a pediatric patient, it is also critical that the family unit and caregivers are evaluated. The nurse must document the patient's response to all interventions performed by the nurse, the patient's caregivers, or any other team member. If the patient does not make progress toward the expected outcome, the goals should be re-evaluated and altered if necessary. Morbidity and mortality are concepts critical to the care of the pediatric patient. Morbidity is the number sick in a particular age group; mortality is the number of deaths in the group. In pediatric patients, mortality rates are typically defined by age groups: • Infant mortality: Number of deaths per 1000 births in the first year of life.

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