hello everyone

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hello everyone i am new to this site and have question for anyone who can answer it. i am a nursing student and would like to know about nursing diagnosis for psoriasis. this would really help me out if someone can help me.:confused:

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

hi, #1$tudent!

unfortunately, there is no nursing diagnosis for psoriasis. psoriasis is a medical diagnosis.

in order to determine a nursing diagnosis you have to put the nursing process into action. the nursing process involves these five steps:

  1. assessment
  2. nursing diagnosis
  3. planning
  4. implementation
  5. evaluation

each step of the nursing process leads you to the next. so, you would begin to develop a care plan, and a nursing diagnosis, for this patient who has psoriasis by first looking at the assessment data that you would collect. assessment data can come from the patient's written record as well as the physical assessment that you will make. the signs and symptoms of psoriasis, in general, include:

  • itching
  • dry, cracked, encrusted skin lesions (sometimes over large areas of the body) particularly on the scalp, knees, elbows, sacrum and extensor surfaces of the arms and legs
  • possibly fine bleeding from scaling skin that is removed
  • pain
  • browning or yellowing of the fingernails
  • nail separation from the nail beds
  • occasionally pustules will form
  • inflammation of the joints

from these objective symptoms you look for one or more nursing diagnoses that encompasses one or more what are called defining characteristics. each nursing diagnosis has a definition, causes (they are called related factors) and symptoms (they are called defining characteristics). from the above list, the following nursing diagnoses could be applied:

  • impaired skin integrity
  • acute pain
  • impaired comfort
  • ineffective protection

i would strongly recommend that you get yourself a care plan book or a nursing diagnosis book to help you in writing care plans. the first chapter(s) of these books usually thoroughly explain the nursing process and how it pertains to the writing of care plans.

since you are new to the forums i also recommend that you check out these threads that have information about writing care plans.

welcome to allnurses! :welcome:

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