Neutropenic Patient Concept Map

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Hello! Thank-you for reading this. A little about my assignment.

I have a 25 year old, male patient with neutropenia. He is in protective isolation. I have to make a concept map with the following content areas:

  • Communication: Describe the communication skills used in working with this individual.
  • Procedure: Outline steps for completing the required procedure while considering the condition of the individual.
  • Anticipated Complications: Describe potential issues that may arise while performing the procedure and how to prevent them.
  • Safety: What safety and infection control concerns are considered?
  • Documentation: What will be included in your documentation? Documentation should be complete and succinct with expected results described

I just started and I don't know exactly what to write under communication. I have present health status and health history. However, I don't exactly know what to ask a neutropenic patient. Should I ask if he has had any fevers/chills? Should I ask if he is presently taking antibiotics? Id anyone at home is sick? If he has traveled out of the country? And for past health history do I ask him what type of cancer he has? What types of treatments for cancer has he had? If he's had a previously low neutrophil count before? I just don't know what I should be asking him during my interview.

And then what nursing diagnosis should I have for this patient? The assignment did not go into detail as to what the pat's actual neutrophil count is. The MayoClinic defines a patient as having neutropenia as the pt's count being

So far I have:

Risk for infection R/T inadequate secondary defenses AEB neutrophil count

Risk for loneliness R/T fear of associating with others because of possibility of contracting an infection .

I need two more, and I can't for the life of me think of anything else. I don't exactly know how to word he's at risk for nutritional deficit since he's not allowed to eat certain foods like fresh veggies.

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Specializes in nursing education.

I think you have a great start.

The risk for loneliness/isolation would be a great place to start for communication.

Is he going to be getting Neupogen?

Other dx's you might want to consider: knowledge deficit, nausea/vomiting if he has it, grieving.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Welcome! What semester are you? Is this a real patient? What procedure? Does your patient know what this procedure is?

Care plans are all about the patient's assessment....tell me more about your patient?

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  • Communication: Describe the communication skills used in working with this individual.

"Skills" are not content. How would you communicate with him? What do you know about various forms of communication? Here are a few words to get you thinking, and they are not all you need to think about: reflective, nonverbal, information-giving ...

Risk for infection R/T inadequate secondary defenses AEB neutrophil count

Risk for loneliness R/T fear of associating with others because of possibility of contracting an infection .

In the NANDA-I, there are very specific risk factors listed for risk diagnoses. I hope you are using this book, and not just one that quotes it, because you need to be more precise and you can't make them up because you think they sound OK.

Under risk for infection, you would say, "... due to inadequate secondary defenses, immunosuppression, leukopenia (neutrophils

Under risk for loneliness, I do not see "fear of associating with others" as a risk factor. Please check on page 281 and see which of the approved risk factors you have assessed in your patient.

If you don't have the NANDA-I 2012-2014, you can get it in hard cover in 2 days with free shipping from Amazon for $29, or instantly on your Kindle or iPad for $24. Do it now.

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Thank-you! I had no idea that NANDA was available for the iPad! Ty! Ty! Ty!

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Thank-you for responding. This is an assignment. The only information given to me was: 25 year old patient with neutropenia from cancer treatments. In protective isolation. It's a concept map and I'm trying to build it around this patient.

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