Obstetrical Assessment Essay

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Obstetrical Assessment and Care Final Assignment William Le Binghamton University The word family cannot be described or translated by one single universal definition. Different people have different views and meanings as to what a family means to them, but however different all families share similar characteristics. The Oxford Dictionary describes a family as a group consisting of parents and children living together in a household of common descent (2014). However, in today's society, families are evolving and changing in the way that is much different than the traditional nuclear family. As noted by NY Times, in today's society a family can be comprised of a single mother or father, gay/lesbian couple, couples that are unmarried and living together with their children, inter-racial marriages and couples, raising kids from behind bars (incarcerated) and even going from friends to caretakers (Angier, 2013). The term family in today's society is so dynamic, and it is the responsibility of all obstetric nurses to understand the changing family dynamic to be able to assess and determine if the proper care can be given to a newborn based on the education level, psychosocial status, welfare and support of the patient so that the newborn can grow up in an optimal environment with their new family. The patient is a Caucasian female of catholic religion. She is married with two other children, and has just given birth to her third child. The other two children are both two and four. This particular family does fit into the traditional nuclear family model, as there are two parents in the family structure both of whom have a stable and steady occupation and live together in the same house. The patient did not mention whether ... ... middle of paper ... ...east fed babies should have semi-liquid seedy yellow stools by the third and fourth day of life (London et al, 2011). As the baby gets older, it is common to have one stool every few days due to increased digestibility of breast milk. Various characteristics of stool can be seen depending on the gastric situation of the baby. Babies that are constipated will have pellet like stool and babies with diarrhea will have loose, watery-green and may be blood tinged. Diaper rashes occur in about a third of young children and preventative techniques include loosely putting on the diaper and changing it immediately after voiding. Clean the area with baby wipes as they are more gentle and do not have the drying effects of alcohol. Creams such as zinc oxide are effective in treating diaper rashes because they provide a barrier on the skin to repel moisture (MedScape, 2013).

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