Nursing Management of Huntington's patient

[Mimiloc]

I am doing a presentation on Huntington's Chorea. I am a little confused on two areas. I am supposed to include Nursing Management on several areas and the two I have having a problem with are "travel considerations", and "growth and development." I did find a website that talked about services for terminal or very ill patients. They covered the different accommodations they have, like ambulance service, etc. Do you think I am on the right track here? But on "growth and development" I am totally lost. Can someone give me a little direction on one or both of these?!

[mrr5745]

Two things to consider here.

1) Huntington's is genetic, so unless the pt was not raised by his or her parents, chances are the pt grew up knowing he or she had a 50% chance of inheriting the disease. Lots of emotional turmoil there. Also, do they get the genetic test or not?

2) Symptoms typically develop in middle age. There will be role strain within the family when symptoms develop. Also, there is the questions of reproduction with the risk of passing along the gene.