Free sample: Pneumonia Nursing Care Plan

Pneumonia affects all persons, but the challenge comes in especially to older persons because they are affected most. An approximate population of 544,000 adults over 65 years visits emergency departments due to pneumonia. A population of 900,000 Americans suffers from pneumonia each year 5-7% of them being in hospitals. 90% of pneumonia cases are in adults. The highest population of old people suffering from pneumonia is for those who are in nursing homes. In the United States, for example, a population of 1.4 million people is cared for in nursing facilities with a percentage of 90 being above the age of 65 years. Comparing the population of those living in the nursing home to that of other older people outside that of those in the nursing facilities is higher. The number of people living with pneumonia in nursing facilities is 365 in a population of 1000 people which is approximately of 11 times of the cases reported from the communities outside the nursing facilities which are above 75 years. A high number of people at a rate of 21.6%, as a result, are transferred from the nursing facilities to hospitals because of pneumonia. The number is high because for those living in the community, the number of admissions is 30% higher in the ratio of 33 persons in 1000 compared to 1:14 persons in a population of 1000. Most patients who suffer from pneumonia also suffer from other diseases like cardiovascular, respiratory and poor functional status Kaye and Henig (2017).

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Nursing Diagnosis

A virus can cause pneumonia, bacteria or a fungus either from inhaling a chemical, contaminated food or fluid or an inhalant. For the persons who have an immune system that is weak, they are susceptible to acquire the disease very quickly and easily. A person then ends up not being able to cough or remain conscious due to injuries or being unable to keep the airway clear as a result of pain. Being in a position to detect the virus early and advise the patient on how to conduct them to maintain a proper and well healthy system able to fight all infections and diseases is an essential aspect for a pneumonia patient.

The common signs and symptoms of pneumonia are having chills from time to time, pain especially in the area around the chest and back, feeling nausea, difficulty in breathing and running out of breath, experiencing coughs, fever, decrease in the rates of temperature, vomiting, and change in the status of the mind unintentionally NRSNG (2017).

Readiness for Learning

The main aim of the community teaching plan is to help the older pneumonia patients in the nursing facilities to live life. Also, help them to live healthily and for those not suffering from it on the ways through which the can avoid the infection.

Learning Theory to be Utilized

The nursing process approach will be used. On diagnosis of this disease, the symptoms vary from the old people to the younger ones. For older persons, the symptoms include having a dry cough, being confused and having a breathing pattern that is inconveniencing and having problems while breathing. To determine whether a patient suffers from pneumonia, a doctor has to fully diagnose the patient to confirm whether the signs match what the doctor thinks the patient is suffering from. Performing a laboratory test and performing an X-ray on the patient to confirm whether the symptoms are actually of pneumonia. Where a patient suffers from severe pneumonia acquired from the community, a blood culture is performed on them to help in controlling the inability to clear bacteria an example of the cases when a blood culture is performed on the patient is when they have cancer, liver disease, and other deficiencies. For the patients requiring admission due to critical condition in the Intensive Care Unit, a specimen of their sputum is also tested to determine the culture. As indicated above culture results are really helpful in the cases of the critical cause of pneumonia when the cause is not known as Fowler (2008).

It is important for the doctor or nurse to determine the severity of the condition of the pneumonia patient. When the severity is low, treatment of the patient as an out-patient is more convenient, appropriate and safe to be used. They should critically examine the patient before determining the method to apply to help them recover. A severity index is used to determine the severity and therefore gives the doctor direction on the method to apply through classification using risk classes. Class one risk is when a patient can be treated using oral antibiotics while in their homes. A patient in risk class two or three receives antibiotics from home and monitoring from the hospital for 24 hours. A patient categorized at-risk class four or five is treated while at the hospital. A doctor should be in a position to accurately tell when and how to treat a patient who approaches them at any stage of illness to avoid future deterioration of health due to misappropriation in the diagnosis. Often antibiotics are used to treat pneumonia especially depending on the pathogen that caused the infection on the patient. For in-patients who are not critically ill, they are given the same antibiotics as the outpatients. Doctors have a role to the patients to ensure that they have taken all the prescribed medication and maintain all the regular hygiene practices and proper diet to ensure that the patient recovers. Being committed to helping the patients and helping them by advising them on what to do and what not to do also contributes significantly to the eradication of the increasing cases of patients with pneumonia.

Goal

To get well as soon as possible, a patient suffering from pneumonia should ensure to follow these steps to feel better:

1. Should rest enough- a patient suffering from pneumonia should always ensure that they have had enough rest, especially through sleep to help in fighting the illness.
2. Should maintain proper hygiene through washing their hands after blowing nose, using the bathroom and before taking any meals.
3. They should be cautious when coughing or sneezing by doing it in a manner that helps to avoid the spread of sputum to other persons.
4. For the people who smoke, they should do all that they can to ensure that they have stopped and get all the help that they can. Using the advice from healthcare providers, they can be helped to quit smoking.
5. Eating healthy and maintaining a balanced diet to maintain a healthy body and also doing exercises help in ensuring that the body remains active.
6. Taking a lot of water that helps to replace the fluids that help to loosen the mucus present in the lungs and throat.
7. Coughing and taking a lot of deep breathes to help in loosening the mucus taking it out of the lungs to make a clear passage.

To avoid getting pneumonia, a patient should:

1. Being vaccinated against flu-flu is a common virus that commonly causes pneumonia. Therefore to help a person maintain the well-being of the body, a vaccine is a way to help.
2. Avoid smoking or inhaling the smoke of another person- smoke is not healthy to the lungs it makes it a hard task for the lungs to fight infections.
3. Being vaccinated- a person aged 65 and above, should suggest to a health care provider especially those who are gaining wellness from a severe medical condition for example heart disease, lung or kidney disease. If a person is sick or expectant, they should also get the vaccine.
4. Regular exercising- being active even for a short period will help the lungs to fight infections in the future and even the proper functioning at the current stage Dabrow (2010).

Barriers

The people who attended complained of the room being cold which caused distraction from time to time but since the time of the presentation was short, they were able to cope up with the situation. The attendance was not as high as we expected due to the failure of advertising the community teaching advertisement on time.

Communication

1. Using creative exercises to help older persons to understand the role that the doctor has for them to achieve recovery and maintain good health.
2. Prevention of further infection- to avoid and protect a patient from suffering and has other foreign objects, for example, an endotracheal tube, a doctor or nurse should handle the patient with care to avoid other infections.
3. Proper education to the patients and their families regarding the importance of maintaining energy in the body, clearing the airway, and coughing while taking deep breaths- the patient should be made aware of these recovery aspects that are very important for the recovery of the patient.
4. Provide supplemental oxygen- when required, the doctors and nurses should provide oxygen for a patient when it is really necessary to help in easy breathing to promote proper blood circulation.
5. Assess pain- when a patent approaches the doctor while in pain, it is the responsibility of the doctor to ensure that they assess and treat the pain as required.
6. Promote proper nutrition habits- teaching the patients on the right methods of eating and when to take a certain food to maintain healthy bodies to gain good health.
7. Help the patient maintain fluid balance- the doctors and nurses should help the patient by ensuring that they rest adequately to ensure that they are not tired because they cannot be in a position to breathe well NRSNG (2017).

Using effective diagrams and leaving a chance for the people to ask any question that they feel has not been answered from the presentation will be the last part to ensure that the people have understood the whole session of learning about how they can still live longer even when they think that pneumonia is a serious disease. There still is a chance for all those willing to move ahead despite a medical challenge that can be conquered when all the teachings are followed.

References

Kaye K and Henig O (2017) "Bacterial Pneumonia in Older Adults" retrieved on 5th January 2019 from https://www.id.theclinics.com/article/S0891-5520(17)30069-7/fulltext

Fowler S (2008) "Community-Acquired Pneumonia: Follow the Guidelines to Better Outcomes" retrieved on 5th January 2019 from https://www.americannursetoday.com/community-acquired-pneumonia-follow-the-guidelines-to-better-outcomes/

NRSNG (2017) "Pneumonia Nursing Care Plan" retrieved on 5th January 2018 from https://www.nrsng.com/care-plan/pneumonia/

Dabrow A (2010) "Patient Education: Pneumonia" retrieved on 5th January 2019 from https://www.nursingcenter.com/journalarticle?Article_ID=1068960&Journal_ID=54016&Issue_ID=1068787