Introduction to Child Health and Pediatric Nursing

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Mortality & Morbidity - Morbidity is a measure of sickness or disease within a geographic area - Mortality is a measure deaths within a population or geographic area. - Mortality is being susceptib ... le to death while morbidity is having diseases to cause death later on Family-centered care - Is the delivery of care that is an approach to the planning, delivery, and evaluation of health care which is grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among patients, families, and healthcare practitioner. It is founded on the understanding that the family plays a vital role in ensuring the health and wellbeing of patients. Atraumatic care - Care that minimizes the psychological and physical stress that health promotion and illness can inflict. Which is done by preventing or minimizing the child’s separation from the family, promote a sense of control, and prevent or minimize bodily injury or pain. Role of the pediatric nurse - the definition of nursing, the protecting, promotion, and optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human responses, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations. The overall goal of pediatric nursing practice is to promote and assist the child in maintaining optimal levels of health while recognizing the influence of the family on the child’s wellbeing. This goal involves the practice of health promotion and disease prevention as well as assisting with care during disease or illness. Children need access to care that is continuous, comprehensive, coordinated, family centered, and compassionate. This care needs to focus on their changing physical, developmental, and emotional needs. Pediatric nurses provide this care by focusing on the family, providing atraumatic therapeutic care, and using evidence-based practice. The primary role of the pediatric nurse is to provide direct nursing care to children and their families, being an advocate, educator, and manager. As a child and family advocate, the nurse safeguards and advances the interest of children and their families by knowing their needs and resources, informing them of their rights and options, and assisting them to make informed decisions. In the role of educator, the nurse instructs and counsels children and their families about all aspects of health and illness the pediatric nurse ensures that communication with the child and family is based on the child’s age and developmental level. The pediatric nurse also serves as a collaborator care. Collaborating with the interdisciplinary health care team, the pediatric nurse integrates the child’s and family’s needs into a coordinated plan of care. In the role of consultant, the pediatric nurse ensures that the child’s and family’s needs are met through such activities as support group facilitation or working with the school nurse to plan the child’s care. The pediatric nurse needs to be alert to the wide-ranging developmental and mental health needs of children as well as to the traits and behaviors that may lead to serious health problems. Nursing process - the pediatric nurse performs all of these tasks using the framework of the nursing process. The nursing process is used to care for the child and family during health promotion, maintenance, restoration, and rehabilitation. It is a problem-solving method based on the scientific method that allows nursing care to be planned and implemented in a thorough, organized manner to ensure quality and consistency of care. The nursing process is applicable to all health care setting and consists of five steps: assessment, nursing diagnosis, outcome identification, and planning implementation, and outcome evaluation. Assessmentinvolves collecting data about the child and family and performing physical assessment during community based health services, at admission to an acute care setting, at periodic times during the child’s hospitalization or care, and during home care visits. Nursing diagnosis the nurse analyzes the data to make judgement about the child’s health and developmental status. The nurse diagnoses that result from this judgement proves describe health promotion and health patterns that pediatric nurses can manage. Planni [Show More]

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