The objective of this study is to examine the evidence that supports the role the nurse practitioner plays in the care of children with chronic respiratory disorders. For this purpose, this study examines literature in this area of study both in the form of study findings and expert advice. The most common reason for hospitalizations in sick children is that of the respiratory disorder, which are reported to range from very mild disorders to conditions that are very serious, and life threatening in nature. (Nursing Care of the Child with a Respiratory Disorder, nd, paraphrased).
The role of the nurse in the care of a child with a respiratory disorder includes: (1) assessing the child’s illness; (2) providing a diagnosis; (3) care planning; (4) interventional care; and (5) evaluation of the care received. (Ibid, paraphrased) The nurse is responsible for assessing airway clearance that is ineffective as well as ineffective patterns of breathing, infection risk, pain, nutrition alteration, and intolerance to activity, fear, pain, alteration in family processes, fluid volume deficit risk, and gas exchange impairment. The goals of nursing as well as nursing interventions and evaluation are such that are determined upon the basis of the nursing diagnosis. The nurse practitioner should counsel the child’s parents about complicating symptoms including fever that is prolonged, increases in pain in the child’s throat or the lymph nodes that become painfully enlarged as well as a cough that worsens or continues longer than ten days and pain in the chest or difficulty breathing.
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Other complicating symptoms that the parents should be made aware of include those of an earache, a headache, tooth or sinus pain, irritability or lethargy unusual for the child and any type of rash on the child’s skin. The nurse practitioner’s provision of education to the child’s parents concerning respiratory complications is a very critical aspect of the provision of care to children with respiratory illnesses.
- Nursing Care of the Child With a Respiratory Disorder (nd) Chapter 19. Retrieved from: http://downloads.lww.com
- James (20120 The Child with a Respiratory Alteration. Chapter 21. Evolve. Retrieved from: http://www.elsevieradvantage.com
- Vandenbranden, SL (2010) The Role of the Nurse Practitioner in the Care of Children with Chronic Respiratory Disorders. Pediatric Annals. 39(12):800-4. Retrieved from: http://www.researchgate.net/
