Maternal and Neonatal Care

Because of its profound emotional implications for mother and child, maternal-neonatal care requires expertise that goes beyond clinical skills. Such care must combine clinical competence, sensitivity, and good judgment. It must consider the patient's sexuality and self-image and recognize changing social attitudes and values—especially those concerning conventional and alternative methods of conception and childbirth. More...

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HOW AGE AFFECTS DRUG ACTION

As the body ages, body structures and systems change, affecting how the body responds to medications. Some common changes that significantly affect medication administration follow. Body composition As a person grows older, his total body mass and lean body mass tend to decrease while body fat tends to increase. These factors affect the relationship between a drug's concentration and solubility in the body. Digestive...

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Boosting therapeutic compliance : Drug Therapy for Geriatric Care

To circumvent noncompliance caused by visual impairment, provide dosage instructions in large print if necessary. To alter eating habits that lead to noncompliance, emphasize which drugs the patient must take with food and which he must take on an empty stomach. Explain that taking some drugs on an empty stomach may cause nausea, whereas taking some drugs on a full stomach may interfere with absorption. Also find...

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Preventing Reactions That Impede Compliance

Discuss the patient's drug therapy with him. As he receives drugs, name them, explain their intended effect, and describe possible adverse reactions to watch for and report. Tell the patient that you'll ask questions to help identify (or reduce the risk of) harmful food or drug interactions (such as those caused by alcohol and caffeine) that may interfere with compliance. Ask the patient about all drugs—prescription,...

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Geriatric Care : Assessing Compliance Ability

Review the patient's complaint, and obtain a comprehensive health and drug history. Keeping in mind that discharge planning begins at admission, evaluate the patient's physical ability to take drugs. Can he read drug labels and directions? Does he identify drugs by sight or by touch? Can he open drug bottles easily? If he's disabled by Parkinson's disease or arthritis, for example, or if he lacks manual dexterity...

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Drug Therapy for Elderly Patients

Four out of five people over age 65 have one or more chronic disorders. This helps explain why elderly people consume more medications than any other age-group. Although elderly adults represent only 12% of the population, they take 30% to 40% of the prescription drugs dispensed. That's about 400 million prescriptions per year, or twice the number of prescriptions filled for people under age 65. Drug therapy for elderly...

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Achieving Healthy Mother, Baby, and Family Unit

INTRODUCTION TO MATERNITY NURSING Providing care to childbearing families is aimed at the ideal of having every pregnancy result in a healthy mother, baby, and family unit. The nurse today faces many evolving and challenging issues in achieving this goal. Such advances as in vitro fertilization and embryo freezing have afforded people opportunities once thought impossible. An increasing number of high-risk pregnancies...

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STRENGTHENING PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLES

Stress incontinence, the most common kind of urinary incontinence in women, usually results from weakening of the urethral sphincter. In men, it may sometimes occur after a radical prostatectomy. You can help male and female patients prevent or minimize stress incontinence by teaching pelvic floor (Kegel) exercises to strengthen the pubococcygeal muscles. Here's how. Learning Kegel exercises First, explain how to locate...

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Selection of Phlebotomy Venipuncture Site

Antecubital vein location varies slightly from person to person; however, two basic vein distribution arrangements referred to as the “H-shaped” and the “M-shaped” patterns are seen most often. The “H-shaped” pattern is so named because the most prominent veins in this pattern- the cephalic, cephalic median, median basilic, and basilic veins- are distributed on the arm in a way that resembles a slanted H. The most prominent...

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Take a look at the build up to the game from the inside

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