Nrsg Dx

[williamsc]

I am having problems with finding a nrsging dx. for osteoarthritis. Can some one please help me with this, I have look at Akley and I need other options.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

if you have looked at ackley and couldn't find help with this, then you haven't read ackley thoroughly because a complete care plan can be written using ackley exclusively. read section i in the book which explains the nursing process, nursing diagnosis and how to construct a care plan. section ii has a cross reference of medical diagnoses and nursing diagnoses. there are 3 suggested nursing diagnoses listed for osteoarthritis. if you break this disease down into its component symptoms and search the section ii cross reference by symptom you will find more suggestions for nursing diagnoses.

osteoarthritis is a medical diagnosis, a medical problem already determined. a nursing diagnosis is a nursing problem which focuses on the patient's response to their health and life problems. what you are to learn when writing care plans as a student is how we can help the patient respond to and live with this medical problem. to figure this out you must follow the steps of the nursing process. that means you must first perform an assessment in order to find abnormal data which becomes the signs and symptoms that will be the evidence to support the nursing diagnoses that will apply here. assessment, for nurses, consists of:

• a health history (review of systems)
  
• performing a physical exam
  
• reviewing the pathophysiology, signs and symptoms and complications of their medical condition
  
  • you can find information about osteoarthritis here: http://www.merck.com/mmpe/sec04/ch034/ch034e.html (osteoarthritis) - look at the pathophysiology (you need it for the related factors of some of your nursing diagnostic statements) and the signs and symptoms (you will need them to help choose the nursing diagnoses)
    
  • http://www.fpnotebook.com/rheum/osteoarthritis/ostrthrts.htm - here, in concise listings, is the pathophysiology, causes and signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis
    

  [*]assessing their adls (at minimum: bathing, dressing, mobility, eating, toileting, and grooming) - after reading about the signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis, imagine what kinds of problems a person with this disease would have accomplishing their adls.

  [*]reviewing the signs, symptoms and side effects of the medications/treatments that have been ordered they are taking

if you need some more hints as to what nursing diagnoses might apply, see the appendix of taber's cyclopedic medical dictionary where there is another cross reference of nursing diagnoses and medical conditions. do the work above, however, or you will have learned nothing and you will have the same difficulty with other care plans.