First care plan - Pathos for labor?

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Luckily this year they are starting a thing where the first care plan is a hypothetical situation rather than an actual patient. This care plan is for our maternal-newborn nursing class and I have a question. What would be considered the pathos for labor? Is that the same thing as the nursing diagnosis? Pregnancy isn't considered a disease is it? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

hi, lacunawestward!

maybe not so lucky, when you are doing a care plan for a non-existent patient they usually want you to cover not only the normal labor, but all the things that could go wrong during labor. to answer your questions, no, pregnancy isn't a disease. however, things that go wrong during labor are problems that have to be addressed and some of them are medical diagnoses. so, in your write up of the normal physiology and then the pathophysiology of labor you will want to write about the normal process of labor and then what can go wrong. so, if you have a chapter(s) in your ob textbook on complications of labor or childbirth you'll want to be looking for some of this information. here is a website that may also have some of the information you need as well:

http://www.childbirths.com/euniversity/laboranddeliveryskills.htm - labor and delivery skills. includes the physical assessment of the laboring mother. has nice pictures to explain a lot of what is being discussed. includes the stages of labor. discusses epidural anesthesia and preparation of the patient. includes information on amnioinfusion, interuterine resusitation, amniotomy, induction of labor, vacuum extraction, shoulder dystocia, abcs of newborn management, complications, and cesarean section. there are a number of weblinks to more information on some of the specific subjects under discussion.

now, let's talk about nursing diagnoses. how do you choose a nursing diagnosis for a patient? there is a rational, thinking process that goes into it. when you are doing a case study like this where there is no real patient you have to rely on the signs and symptoms that could exist. so, if you are going to write a care plan for a normal delivery you need to think about some of the problems in terms of the signs and symptoms that the laboring woman is likely to have. how about pain? or, problems urinating from the pressure of the baby's head on the structures of the urinary system? the mother might be scared to death of the unknown. what about perineal tearing? these are all things that can be included as part of a care plan for a normal labor. there are more for a labor where things are going wrong. so, maybe the laboring process is not so normal after all. hope this gives you some direction.

you might take a look at the information in these threads on the student nursing forums:

welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

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Thank you so much for your help. Thankfully now I have an idea where to start and am well on my way! The addresses have already helped me so much

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