Adult Health Risks, Nursing Care, and Pharmacology
Adult Health Risks and Prevention at Different Life Stages
Young Adulthood
In this stage, the main risks are:
- Traffic accidents
- Accidents related to recreational activities
- Workplace accidents
These accidents are often linked to alcohol consumption. Other risks include suicide, depression, and stress related to social factors.
Prevention:
- Recognize the signs of stress
- Develop defense mechanisms to prevent accidents and suicide
- Conduct education campaigns on sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) like AIDS
- Promote the use of condoms during each sexual intercourse
Middle Age
The leading causes of death are cardiovascular diseases, followed by cancer (CA). Prostate, colon, rectum, and breast cancers are common.
Prevention:
- Fundamental gynecological controls for the prevention of CA
- Periodic medical checkups for the prevention of osteoporosis
- Promote physical activity and a proper diet
- Limit or eliminate alcohol and tobacco consumption
- Prevent or avoid situations that may lead to suicide due to depression from illness, loss of loved ones, or loss of employment
Mature Adulthood
The leading cause of death in this age group is heart disease, followed by cancer. People are more prone to falls due to loss of vision, balance issues, and skeletal muscle weakness. They are also prone to memory loss and depression due to financial concerns.
Prevention:
- Ensure family support and economic stability
- Use suitable and comfortable footwear to prevent falls
- Make necessary home modifications to improve safety
Importance of Nurse Knowledge in Growth and Development
Knowing human development can help nurses educate patients at different life stages about nutrition, tobacco and alcohol use, and fall prevention, especially regarding vertigo and impaired vision.
PAE: Nursing Care Process
The PAE (Process of Nursing Care) is a sequence of steps divided into parts that nurses use to provide care for each subject in diagnosis and treatment. It aims to identify present or potential health problems, plan care, implement the plan, and evaluate the results.
A: Assessment of Care Needs
This step involves collecting information. The nurse gathers evidence and seeks further information regarding the health status of the subject, considering sociological, physiological, psychological, and cultural factors. Assessment data are essential for medical records and form the basis for planning, delivery, and evaluation of care.
B: Nursing Diagnosis
The diagnosis is based on information gathered during the assessment. It depends on criteria and clinical reasoning. The nurse classifies health alterations, giving a name to the health problem. The nursing diagnosis describes the nature, origin, and manifestations of health changes that the nurse is authorized to identify and treat with independent interventions. To classify a health problem, the nurse must interpret information, group interrelated facts, and assign a name.
Planning
Planning involves the various treatments and activities that nursing will undertake to provide the best possible care to the subject.
C: Deployment
The plan is implemented as designed for the care of the subject.
D: Assessment
The results are evaluated to determine the effectiveness of the care and whether changes are needed.
Writing a Nursing Diagnosis
The diagnosis is issued in PES format. The written information should be consistent, and the assessment data must be accurate.
Health problems (P) are related to etiological factors (E) and are manifested by distinguishing features or combinations of signs and symptoms (S).
Example:
- P: Urinary incontinence
- E: Loss of muscle tone, prostration
- S: Involuntary urination, micturition, lack of awareness of incontinence, loss of urine through the motions
The nursing diagnosis may be possible or potential.
Hospital Admission and Discharge
Admission
Admission is the entry of a subject into a health insurance institution of varying complexity for assessment or treatment.
Objectives:
- Provide the required information to the subject
- Facilitate integration into the hospital environment
- Ensure the subject’s comfort during their interaction
- Gather information about the subject
Types of Admission:
- Urgent: An acute case requiring immediate admission
- Scheduled: Performed when the condition is not serious, allowing for planned admission
Nursing Care: Representing the institution, risk prevention, care of belongings.
Discharge (Added)
Discharge is the exit of the subject from the hospital unit. It is a planned, coordinated, and holistic process that begins upon admission. Instructions are given to the subject and their family on how to continue recovery at home.
Objectives:
- Provide the subject and their families with the skills to meet their needs at home
Types of Discharge:
- Voluntary manifest
- Voluntary unmanifest (escape)
- Transfer
- Demise
- Discharge
Physical Examination of Health
A physical examination is an exploration of the subject, starting from the head to the feet (cephalocaudal), trying to minimize changes in the subject’s position.
Objectives:
- Obtain baseline data on the functional abilities of the subject
- Verify subjective data collected during the interview
- Gather information necessary to establish the nursing diagnosis and care planning
Exploration Methods:
- Inspection: Performed through observation, noting color, rashes, scars, body shape, and facial expressions. It is an active process.
- Palpation: Done by touch, using the fingertips for their sensitivity. It can be light or deep.
- Percussion: Small strokes are performed on the surface to generate audible sounds or vibrations. It can be direct or indirect.
- Auscultation: Listening to internal sounds, either directly with the ear or indirectly using a stethoscope.
Catheterization and Nasogastric Tube
Bladder Catheterization
This process involves inserting a catheter into the bladder through the urethral opening, temporarily or permanently, using the appropriate probe for each case.
Equipment Needed: Tray containing sterile gloves, probe of appropriate size and type, disposable wadding, flat pad or sterile field, lubricant, sterile vial, clamping pliers, flashlight, corner, syringe filled with sterile distilled water, fenestrated towel, collection bag, cotton swabs and gauze pads, antiseptic soap and water, and waste bag.
Nasogastric Tube
This procedure involves inserting a tube through the nose or mouth into the upper stomach.
Equipment: Tray containing nasogastric feeding or aspiration tube, gloves, lubricant, corner, stethoscope, suitable syringe, vase with water, hypoallergenic tape, and pliers clamp.
Objectives:
- Perform washing and aspiration of gastric contents for therapeutic purposes
- Collect gastric contents for therapeutic purposes
- Provide food or medication when the patient cannot take it by mouth
- Avoid aspiration in unconscious subjects
Pharmacology
Pharmacology is the science that studies the activities and properties of drugs in living organisms.
Drug: Chemical compounds used in the diagnosis, treatment, prevention, cure, or palliation of disease.
Pharmaceutical Forms: Various presentations of the drug, including liquids, aqueous solutions, gases, solids, and semisolids.
Clinical Pharmacology
Studies the interactions of drugs with the human body, divided into pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics.
- Pharmacokinetics: Studies drugs from entry into the body until excretion. The four elements are absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.
- Pharmacodynamics: Measures or controls the therapeutic and toxic effects of medications on the subject, focusing on the drug’s action in the body.
Drug Interactions
- Synergism: When two or more drugs are consumed to enhance their effect (e.g., two analgesics increasing pain relief). Note that this also increases the toxic effect.
- Antagonism: The opposite of synergism, where one drug decreases the effect of another.
- Incompatibility: Occurs when two solutions are mixed for parenteral use, and one decreases its activity, potentially causing changes in the solution’s color. It is crucial to know which solutions can dissolve drugs.
Types of Drug Action
- Therapeutic Effect: The expected action of the drug. Nurses must know the therapeutic effect to educate the subject.
- Side Effects: Unintended effects that can be harmless or harmful.
- Adverse Effects: Serious responses to the drug.
- Toxic Effects: Usually occur in prolonged treatments due to altered metabolism or excretion, depending on the drug’s lethal action.
- Idiosyncratic Reactions: Unexpected reactions where the subject may react with more or less intensity to a drug.
- Allergic Reactions: Unpredictable drug actions, which can be severe.
- Drug Interactions: Occur when one drug modifies the action of another.
Response to Drug Dosage
Once the drug is administered, nurses monitor absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion.
Triple Drug Testing
Check the expiration date, condition, and concentration of the drug:
- When removing it from storage
- While preparing it
- Before storing or disposing of it
Six Rights of Medication Administration
- Right Subject
- Right Drug
- Right Dose
- Right Route of Administration
- Right Time and Date
- Right Record