Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome Concept map help

[trinellipe]

Hi, I need to do a concept map for my patient. She was the donor twin with TTTS. My maternity, med.-surg., and peds. book are greatly lacking in info on this subject. I'm having a hard time coming up with my concept map. I need help with the nursing assessment, patient care sections, and patient/family teaching sections of my concept map. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[RNTutor, BSN, RN]

I really don't know anything about TTTS and don't have time to look it up right now. But a quick google search tells me it has something to do with a dispproportionate blood supply? So maybe some sort of fluid imbalance. How is that affecting their I/Os? How old are the twins (and what stage of Eriksen's would they be in)?

Are the twins connected (siamese twins)? If so, what developmental challenges might they have? Any risks for skin integrity if they don't have full mobility (for their age, of course)?

The thing I like about concept maps is that it forces you to think more generally. Ask yourself, what do I already know that I could apply to this patient based on their symptoms? Remember, as nurses we treat a pt's response to disease (often their symptoms, emotional reaction, psychosocial concerns, etc), NOT the disease itself.

So use what you DO know to develop a couple nursing diagnoses. Once you have some nursing diagnoses, then it's easier to see how you can use the same assessments, implementations, and teaching that you are familiar with from another situation to the current pt.

Hope that helps!