I appreciate that you have decided to share your personal experience within this post. Pediatric care is an entity within itself within the medical field. Ill children are extremely difficult to manage as patients and have the tendency to have a rapid change in status while patients in the hospital. Providing safe care for pediatrics during hospitalization is an area that I am not too familiar with. Working the ER I have had many pediatric patients, but the parents always remain with the patient. When peds patients are admitted, hospital protocol states that the patient must be present during the transfer of the patient to the admitting floor. So, in my experience the parent always provides the safety aspect of care in the ER, patient are expected
to monitor their children's behavior. Parents are taught to use the side-rails and call bell use. Children suffering from neurologic disorders are placed on out standard seizure precautions such as padding of side-rails, suction set-up at the bedside, and continuous monitoring for telemetry and other VS. In my research for your post, I found that complex febrile seizures present with the same signs and symptoms that predispose them to seizure activity ( increased temperature, illness, along with altered mentation), but when seizures develop complex seizures either focal or prolonged (ie, >15 min) occur, or patients have multiple seizures occur in close succession (Baumann, 2015). Administration of anti-pyretic medications (Tylenol suppository, Ibuprophen) and Lorazapam (Ativan), help to alleviate fever and seizure activity. Hospitalization is required if this is the patients first episode, upon discharge parents are instructed to monitor temperatures rectally, contact PCP for follow-up care, and return to the ER if symptoms worsen or fever returns. This experience is terrifying for parents to watch, and thank you again for sharing your personal experience.
Nurses play a big role in supporting the parents while their child is in the NICU. Showing compassion and demonstrating caring actions when caring for the patient makes it more likely that the parents will trust the nurse and the information the nurse gives them regarding their child’s condition. This trust is important as it helps the parents feel confident in the decisions they are making about their child’s care. When the parents of an ill child in the NICU have decided to terminate treatment palliative care by the nurse and other healthcare providers comes into play. Palliative care is keeping the child comfortable by treating the symptoms and being there for the parents and child physically, emotionally, and spiritually (Eden & Callister, 2010).
Ranked third by U.S. News and World Report on the list of “Best Health Care Jobs of 2017”, the Physician Assistant career has a 96 percent job-satisfaction rate, and represents one of the fastest growing jobs in the nation. Created as a position to relieve the job shortage of primary care physicians, Physician Assistants first came to be in the mid-1960s. Since then, the number of PAs in practice has just about doubled with every decade helping to improve health care not just nationally, but on a global level as well. Physician Assistants are licensed to practice medicine, prescribe medication, treat chronic illnesses, and assist in surgery in all 50 states under supervision of a physician. Although some medical practitioners perceive the role
When people think of a pediatric nurse practitioner, they normally think of a person who performs examinations, takes blood samples, and measures vital signs of children who are sick. What they don’t see are the countless hours spent getting to know the patient, showing sympathy and understanding, and having to explain the diagnosis and treatment plans to the parents and sometimes to the child. According to my career cruising inventory, any job in the medical field would be right for me. However, after reading the descriptions, I concluded that a pediatric nurse practitioner was the best path. I will be attending nursing school to receive my nurse practitioner license, while specializing in pediatrics. The skills, educational requirements,
In nursing, it is important to understand the difference between the different developmental groups for pediatric patient’s and how these differences affect the care and guidance that patient receives.
All physical contact with the children should ideally be avoided but in some situations this is not avoidable. E.g young children sometimes need a hug if they have hurt themselves, and at times the children will make physical contact an adult without warning. In these situations the adult should be aware of where they are and who is nearby. The adult should aim to never be left alone with a child (although in some situations this may be unavoidable such as personal care) and if they are the adult must go to lengths to protect themselves, such as leaving the doors open, telling other member of staff where and why they are going to be alone with a child. Ensuring they are observed from another adult if possible, even if at a distance. Any physical contact with a child should always be as a response to the child initiating it.
Like the general public, I assumed their only job was to aid doctors and perform routine medical procedures that they are trained to do. The purpose of this interview was to gain insight into how much more nurses do, and I was greatly surprised. Marks shared what it is really like to be a pediatric nurse, and all the other roles they must play in their patients’ lives. As someone who has never been admitted into a hospital, or have been in the care of a nurse, her stories were eye-opening for me. Marks gave me a new-found appreciation for all that nurses
The main purpose of her position is to help children and families with hospitalization, diagnosis, illnesses, and injuries. She stated that she works in the clinic so she sees patients and families from diagnosis or first visits to multiple return visits. She says she builds solid relationships with the children and their families. “It is most rewarding when I’ve spent time with an anxious child and done “everything” (diagnosis, teaching, medical play, procedure education, and support) and slowly see the change from a child not coping well at all, to coping well with support and slowly not needing me at all; it’s a little sad when they tell me they don’t need me to be present, but I know then that I have done my job because they’ve learned the skills to go through a procedure independently” (Tiller, telephone interview, December 8, 2016). Ms. Tiller stated that one of the challenges is that this is a
Pediatric nurses do a lot of the same tasks as a regular nurse. They draw blood, check vital signs, can perform physical examinations, and order diagnostic tests. However, the job of a pediatric nurse goes beyond regular nurses. They must have a caring relationship not only with the patient they are tending to, but also the patient’s family. Parents usually prefer a pediatric nurse over a regular nurse due to the caring relationship they carry. This is well known by the nurses as the caring process. During this process the nurse must help the child and the child’s family step by step with anything they may need at the time. The pediatric nurse provides support, care, and information on how to prevent future problems. Pediatric nursing can be defined as “the practice of nursing with children, youth, and their families across the health continuum, including health promotion, illness management, and health restoration" (Barnsteiner et al). Therefore, you can see from that statement alone there is more than one job to be done by a pediatric nurse. A pediatric nurse can see anywhere from 80 to 100 children a day. They take appointments, walk-ins, and sometimes make home visits. Only when the pediatric nurse finds an abnormality will they refer and send the child t...
American Academy of Pediactrics. (2003). Family-Centered Care and the Pediatrician’s Role. Available: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/112/3/691.full. Last accessed 23/01/14.
Having worked as a rehab aide in an outpatient clinic, my pediatric observation experience was completely different from what I am used to seeing. The therapist I observed was Allie Ribner who works at All Children’s Child Development and Rehab Center. Each session was completely different from one another for the session was geared towards the goals of the child and families. I found this to be a great learning experience for I saw a wide variety of different treatments and age range from 14 months to 15 years old.
(10) Levi B.H., Thomas N.J., Green M.J., Rentmeester C.A. & Ceneviva G.D. (2004), jading in the paediatric intensive care unit: implications for healthcare providers of medically complex children. Paediatric Critical Care Medicine 5 (3), 275–277. (11) Ward. E [1990] Ch. 359.
Describe attending supervisor role ( example with first year attending is present with every pt with second not)
The 'Second fundamentals of nursing : care and clinical judgment. Philadelphia : W.B. Saunders Ball, J. W., & Bindler, R. M. (2003). Clinical skills manual for pediatric nursing : caring for children. 3rd ed. of the book.
Children requiring emergency care have unique needs, especially when emergencies are serious or life threatening. Therefore, it is imperative that all hospitals have the appropriate resources and staff to provide effective emergency care for children. This paper outlines resources necessary to ensure that a hospital unit is prepared for an emergency situation involving pediatric patients. The pediatric rapid response team guidelines are consistent with the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine’s report on the future of emergency care in the United States health system. Adoption of a pediatric rapid response team should facilitate the delivery of emergency care for children of all ages and, when appropriate, timely transfer to a facility with specialized pediatric services.
Although it seems that sedating pediatrics is ideal, many adverse, life threating events have been claimed. The most common across the board is airway and respiratory depression. Other adverse events include decreased oxygenation, cardiac arrest, hypertension, hypotension hypoxia, dyspnea, airway obstruction, bradycardia, increased time recovery, and death (Pizzo, 2016). Another disadvantaged with sedating pediatrics is the failure of sedation. Failure to sedate a pediatric patient can cause distress to the family of the patient due to a repeat examination.