Nursing Care Plan for Pneumonia in Pediatrics Example

Are you a nursing student looking for nursing care plan for pneumonia in pediatrics? then this is the right spot. Our nursing care plan writers have carefully prepared this actionable care plan for students learning how to write care plans.

In practice, writing of nursing care plan for pneumonia in pediatrics begins when the patient is admitted to the hospital. Nurses continuously update the plan in response to patient’s changes in health condition and evaluation of goals achieved. A standard format for nursing care plan for pneumonia includes nursing diagnoses, patient problems, expected outcome and nursing interventions and rationales.

How to write nursing care plans

The medical field has its permanent mark on human kinds existence and for the longest time ever, has proven to be the most effective and this is a result of an all-round approach that has sealed off any loopholes that are potentially detrimental to human life. In response to this, the concept of nursing care plans was introduced and has proved to be a lifesaver. A care plan is basically a document that gives an accurate guide on the kind of medical care that a person should get depending on what ailment they are dealing with. Well, if you are a nursing student and you don’t at all enjoy writing care plans, then you should know that there are many more of your kind out there even in the professional field because let’s face it, writing up a nursing care plan is neither easy nor fun. However, what makes it so important and what is it all about. We shall however have our focus on a specific care plan, which is a nursing care plan for pneumonia in pediatrics.

Importance of a Care Plan

First and foremost, a care plan has a couple of users and the most important parties are the nurses and their patients but the spectrum spreads on to medical insurance and even institutions. However, the most important task comes by definition and this is for effective planning by caregivers on the course of disease control and treatment as they track response. This ensures that it covers all bases and provide quality healthcare. This approach gives an immense amount of confidence to both the patient and caregiver as they are able to keep track and evaluate the recommended stages of recovery.

This problem-solving tool is also used as an advisory tool as well. Think of this as a map to recovery. It will seek to understand your departure point, what you need for the journey, milestones in your journey and the expected destination which is perfect health. In light of this, it also makes allocation of duties an easy task as well mainly for institutions such as hospitals. Now that we have those grounds established, let’s pen down a nursing care plan for pneumonia in pediatrics.

There are four components to a nursing care plan which are:

– Nursing diagnosis/ assessment

– Goals and desired outcome

– Nursing intervention/ orders

– Evaluation

Nursing care plan example for pneumonia for pediatrics

First things first, what is pneumonia? according to the World Health Organization (WHO), Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs. The lungs are made up of small sacs called alveoli, which fill with air when a healthy person breathes. When an individual has pneumonia, the alveoli are filled with pus and fluid, which makes breathing painful and limits oxygen intake

Pneumonia is an infection caused by viruses and bacteria characterized by inflammation of the lungs. It causes alveolar edema and congestion, which impairs gaseous exchange. In the United States of America, CDC states that the disease is the sixth leading cause of deaths.

There are two types of pneumonia namely:

– Community Acquired Pneumonia

– Hospital Acquire Pneumonia.

Classification of pneumonia may be based on location and radiologic appearance.

Bronchopneumonia or bronchial pneumonia is the inflammation of bronchioles and alveoli. Interstitial pneumonia is caused by inflammation within lung tissue (vascular structures). Alveolar pneumonia is characterized by fluid accumulation in the air spaces. Necrotizing pneumonia leads to death of lung tissues.

Classification of pneumonia may be based on microbiologic etiology. The infection may be caused by viruses, fungal, protozoan, mycobacterial or mycoplasmal

Pneumonia is high risk attack to infants and eldery people, people who smoke, malnourished, immunocompromised and bedridden people. The infection is characterized by following symptoms: cough with phelgm or pus, chills, fever and difficulty in breathing. Though most of pneumonia infections are treatable using antibiotics others can be prevented by vaccines. Pneumonia can be life threatening more so high risk group. It is important to administer right antibiotic treatment

Nursing diagnosis of pneumonia

Pneumonia takes a greater toll on children than it does on adults but that does not make it any less lethal. Some sign and symptoms align for both age groups but due to the weak immune systems of babies, the risk is higher. When put under x-ray, you will see diffused alveoli in the lungs. Have in mind that pneumonia can be acquired pretty much anywhere. So what are the signs and symptoms associated with pneumonia?

­- the elevated rate of breathing.

– Difficulty in breathing which is accompanied by wheezing sound. Under keen observation, you will see that the skin right under the neck and area on the ribs seem to be sucking in as they breathe. This effect stretches out to cause belly aches. In other words, this will be termed as using accessory muscles for breathing.

– Chest pains, which increase when coughing.

– Abdominal pains

– Fever

– Vomiting

Pneumonia is quite versatile and signs and symptoms do differ from one patient to another. Depending on the area on the lungs that are affected. The upper part of the lungs is characterized by difficulty in breathing and this is easily detectable and gives the right direction on what to look for.

However, when the lower side is affected, then there are no breathing problems but it is characterized by: —-

– Stomach pain

– Vomiting

In light of this, you should understand that patients exhibit either one or multiple symptoms that should not be overlooked.

Goals and desired outcome

An ideal care plan should not only give you the symptoms but has a section that seeks to define what you are to help the patient attain on their path to recovery.

– Keeping oxygen levels stable by taking the ABG levels to a recommended level.

– Establishing an effective breathing pattern to deal with shortness of breath or medically known as dyspnea.

– Successful Diaphragmatic exercises executed by the patient and the pursed lips technique is highly recommended to make sure that all carbon dioxide is expelled from the lungs.

– Seamless and comfortable breathing on the patient which, depending on the age should be communicated or observed.

Nursing intervention of pneumonia

An antibiotic is normally used to fight the bacteria that is flagged as one of the causes of pneumonia. However, the nursing intervention is aimed to bring the best results as a patient caretaking program and this is how they intervene.

– Administration of oxygen as prescribed. A pulse oximeter is used to monitor oxygen levels.

– Perform nasotracheal sanctioning to remove secretion if the patient is unable to do it on their own to maintain a clean airway.

– Place the patient in the semi-fowler position to facilitate breathing through maximum lung and chest expansion.

– To increase oxygen levels, encourage your patient to do diaphragmatic exercises. This is highly recommended especially in severe cases

– Ensure that the patient correctly takes their oxidization medication.

– Once a patient is cleared as safe to ambulate, make sure that they engage in exercises. This is basically having the patient engage in simple physical routines and exercises. This also facilitates improved pulmonary toilet and better secretion.

– Ensure that a proper diet is followed.

Evaluation 

The evaluation process takes into consideration the above three processes and in light of that, evaluate the patient’s progress. Hold the signs and symptoms against the goal and nursing in relation to the patient’s progress. This step is extremely essential and this is because from the evaluation done, you can continue, change or terminate the plan.

An effective nursing care plan for pneumonia in pediatrics provides a comprehensive overview of the patient right from the onset of diagnosis right to recovery. With this then you should be well versed on how to create one of your own. However, you can always let an expert nursing paper writing help assist you out. This will take the doubt out of the way and add an immense lot of professionalism that your paper really needs.