User:Sallyfannie/sandbox

Experience in caring for children under 5 years old at Clinic

A pediatric nurse works in the pediatric department of a hospital, children’s clinics or at their homes. The basic duties of the pediatric nurse in the pediatric clinic involve performing physical examinations, and giving medication prescribed by the doctor. Responsibilities involve taking the vital signs of the patient. She also has the duty of performing head to toe assessment and also collecting samples of patient’s urine and stools for laboratory tests. Another nursing role is to check immunization status of the patients and when needed, to perform vaccination. I had to opportunity to observe children of 2, 3 and 5 years old. After the nurse took the basic set of vital signs, she continued with the developmental assessment which was partially based on the Denver II assessment tool. The patients were observed expressing their feelings through kicking and running around, jumping with both feet at the same time, and turning pages of a magazine on their own, after they were shown how to do it. The 3 year old and 5 year old spoke clearly and they both were able to say simple phrases and follow simple instructions as “you can put your shirt on the chair.” The nurse interviewed the mothers of the patients regarding their general health and safety in order to determine if the children were properly developing, and if the parent had any concerns about them. She asked questions about toilet training, feeding and child’s psychosocial and physical growth and development status. The mothers were interested to know more about it, so the nurse gave them more information in the form of pamphlets such as potty training guide and nutrition rich shopping list. The nurse also gave the moms a few tips on how to reduce risks for falls and injuries in the home environment. All of the patients and their mothers were African American, so I used the opportunity to learn about their health belief system, and the potential impacts of these beliefs on the children’s health. I noticed a tiny red bracelet on the 3 year olds ankle and asked the mother about it. She smiled and said that it was used to remove the evil spirits from the body, and that she usually does not bring the child to the clinic unless he’s sick, but she takes the child to church every Sunday and that God is protecting her baby. The Doctor ordered a respiratory treatment for the 2 year old, who appeared to be having respiratory issues, and a history of asthma. The nurse first checked the order in the chart, and then spoke with the parent about the treatment. In the medication room, she obtained a portable oxygen tank and a mask. She asked the mother for the child’s name and date of birth while comparing the chart. Then she addressed the child by saying “this will help you breathe better.” Put the mask on and gave him some crayons to play with. Afterwards, the child was praised by saying “you were such a good boy. The most common health problems seen in children that come to the clinic were colds, asthma, ear infections, UTI, upper and lower GI problems, skin rash and ring worms.