Question

Rachel Singer is a 5-year-old girl who is brought to the emergency department by her parents, Lucas and Veronica. They report that Rachel has been experiencing vomiting and diarrhea for the past 36 hours. “She hasn’t been able to keep anything down. We tried sips of liquids and even that didn’t help.” She is lethargic and her mucous membranes are dry and pale. Rachel is to be admitted. Her orders include intravenous fluid therapy and nothing by mouth (NPO).
a. What measures would be appropriate to help Rachel and her parents cope with the emergency admission?

b. What areas would be a priority for the nurse to address when caring for Rachel?

Answer 1

a.

Answer: The best measures that would help Rachel and her parents to cope with emergency admission is education regarding the condition and psychological support. The education regarding the condition and its treatment process will help to increase the knowledge of the patient and parents and reduce the anxiety. So the nurse should explain the condition of the patient, what is the causes, and treatment process to improve the recovery process.

Psychological support should be given to the patient and parents that the nothing to worry, the patient can be recovered after proper treatment.

b.

While caring the patient, the priority should be given on the correcting of dehydration or fluid volume deficit related to diarrhea and vomiting as evidence by lethargy, dry mucus.

It is because the patient is not able to eat or drink anything also vomiting are present. So it will leads to severe dehydration so the most priority should be given on the correction of dehydration. So the nurse should start administering the IV fluid as per advice by the physician and intake and output chart need to be maintained. Provide adequate rest to the patient because the patient is having lathergy due to lack of energy.