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Monday 22 January 2018

What is nursing process?



Image result for nursing process The nursing process is a series of organized steps designed for nurses to provide excellent care.
Learn the five phases, including assessing, diagnosing, planning, implementing, and evaluating. 

The 5 Steps of the Nursing Process

The nursing process is a scientific method used by nurses to ensure the quality of patient care. This approach can be broken down into five separate steps.

Assessment Phase

The first step of the nursing process is assessment. During this phase, the nurse gathers information about a patient's psychological, physiological, sociological, and spiritual status. This data can be collected in a variety of ways. Generally, nurses will conduct a patient interview. Physical examinations, referencing a patient's health history, obtaining a patient's family history, and general observation can also be used to gather assessment data. Patient interaction is generally the heaviest during this evaluative phase.

Diagnosing Phase

The diagnosing phase involves a nurse making an educated judgment about a potential or actual health problem with a patient. Multiple diagnoses are sometimes made for a single patient. These assessments not only include an actual description of the problem (e.g. sleep deprivation) but also whether or not a patient is at risk of developing further problems. These diagnoses are also used to determine a patient's readiness for health improvement and whether or not they may have developed a syndrome. The diagnoses phase is a critical step as it is used to determine the course of treatment.

Planning Phase

Once a patient and nurse agree on the diagnoses, a plan of action can be developed. If multiple diagnoses need to be addressed, the head nurse will prioritize each assessment and devote attention to severe symptoms and high risk factors. Each problem is assigned a clear, measurable goal for the expected beneficial outcome. For this phase, nurses generally refer to the evidence-based Nursing Outcome Classification, which is a set of standardized terms and measurements for tracking patient wellness. The Nursing Interventions Classification may also be used as a resource for planning.

Implementing Phase

The implementing phase is where the nurse follows through on the decided plan of action. This plan is specific to each patient and focuses on achievable outcomes. Actions involved in a nursing care plan include monitoring the patient for signs of change or improvement, directly caring for the patient or performing necessary medical tasks, educating and instructing the patient about further health management, and referring or contacting the patient for follow-up. Implementation can take place over the course of hours, days, weeks, or even months.

Evaluation Phase

Once all nursing intervention actions have taken place, the nurse completes an evaluation to determine of the goals for patient wellness have been met. The possible patient outcomes are generally described under three terms: patient's condition improved, patient's condition stabilized, and patient's condition deteriorated, died, or discharged. In the event the condition of the patient has shown no improvement, or if the wellness goals were not met, the nursing process begins again from the first step.

All nurses and Doctor must be familiar with the steps of the nursing process. If you're planning on studying to become a nurse, be prepared to use these phases everyday in your new career. 

Contamination is the presence of an infectious agent on a body surface; also on or in clothes, bedding, toys, surgical instruments or dressings, or other inanimate articles or substances including water, milk, and food, or that infectious agent itself.
The 5 F for Contamination
v  Finger
v  Fly
v  Food
v  Feces
v  Feet
The infectious diseases result from the interaction of agent, host, and environment. More specifically, transmission occurs when the agent leaves its reservoir or host through a portal of exit, is conveyed by some mode of transmission, and enters through an appropriate portal of entry to infect a susceptible host. This sequence is sometimes called the chain of infection.

Sterilization is the procedure of destroying all microorganisms in or on a given environment, such as a surgical instrument, in order to prevent the spread of infection. This is usually done by using heat, radiation, or chemical agents.
  
Antiseptic is a substance that inhibits the growth and development of harmful microorganisms, such as those that cause disease.Eg Hydrogen peroxide ,Chlorhexidine (CHX),Chloramine (Chloramine-T),Triiodomethane (Idoform),Merbromine
  1. Alcohols: Some alcohols like ethanol, propanol (1-propanol, 2-propanol) and mixtures of alcohols act as good antiseptics. These alcoholic solutions commonly known as surgical alcohol and used for disinfection of skin before injection along with other antiseptics like tincture of iodine, chlorhexidine etc.
  2. Quaternary ammonium compounds: These compounds can act as antibiotic as well as antiseptics also. For example; Benzethonium chloride. These compounds are commonly abbreviated as "Quats," and used to sterilize the skin before surgery as well as for irrigation or as a preservative in eye drops.
  3. Boric acid: It's a white crystalline solid, chemically known as orthoboric acid (H3BO3).
    It is mainly used as suppository in the treatment of yeast infections in vagina, in eyewashes.
  4. Brilliant Green: It is a triarylmethane dye used as 1% ethanol solution for treatment of small wounds and abscesses.
  5. Chlorhexidine Gluconate: It is a biguanidine derivative of chlorhexidine whose alcoholic solution is widely used for skin treatment and for gingivitis.
  6. Hydrogen peroxide: The 20 volume solution of hydrogen peroxide acts as good antiseptic due to its oxidising nature and used to clean wounds and ulcers. It also present in many households first aid used to cleanse wounds, disinfect skin, as a gargle or mouthwash.
  7. Iodine: The alcoholic solution of iodine is known as tincture of iodine is a good antiseptic used to gentle washing of minor wounds.
  8. Octenidine dihydrochloride: It is a bis-(dihydropyridinyl)-decane derivative and a cationic surfactant which show similar in their action to the Quaternary ammonium compounds, but with broader spectrum of activity.
  9. Phenolic compounds: Phenol and other phenolic compounds are very common antiseptics used as an antiseptic baby powder, used in mouthwashes and throat lozenges.
  10. Other antiseptics: some other antiseptics are polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), Sodium chloride, Sodium hypochlorite, Calcium hypochlorite, Sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) and, Terpenes

 Disinfectants
Disinfectants are used to kill bacteria. They are used to sterilize instruments, utensils, clothes, floors, sanitary fittings, sputum and excreta. They harm the living tissues and cannot be used on skin. Some examples are phenol, methyl phenol, hydrogen peroxide and sulfur dioxide.

Note: Sometimes the same substance may be used as an antiseptic or disinfectant. When the concentration is less, it is an antiseptic and when the concentration is more, the substance acts as disinfectant. For instance, 0.2% solution of phenol is an antiseptic and 1.0% solution of phenol is a disinfectant

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