The Nursing Diagnosis of Ineffective Fetal Tissue Perfusion
The basis for the entire nursing care of the patient is a nursing diagnosis. Potter and Perry (2005) define a nursing diagnosis as “a clinical judgment about an individual, family, or community response to actual and potential health problems or life processes” (p. 300).
“Nursing diagnoses provide the basis for selection of nursing interventions to achieve outcomes for which the nurse is accountable” (Perry & Potter, 2005, p.300). The way nurses classify health problems in order to provide the appropriate nursing care is by nursing diagnoses. Patient’s medical and family history, along with a physical exam, must be gathered and analyzed by the nurse. The patient’s strengths and weaknesses must also be assessed by the nurse. This allows for a more efficient way of choosing the appropriate nursing diagnosis (Alfaro-LeFevre, 1998). Excellent clinical judgment and skills should be practiced. Critical thinking is ideal in order to select the appropriate nursing diagnosis. Nursing diagnoses should be patient centered.
Patient Case Study
Jane is a 38-year-old female who presented to the labor and delivery unit with severe bright red bleeding and abdominal pain. Jane is a gravida 8, para 6. She is 36 weeks pregnant. Upon examination, her abdomen appeared to be rigid. She is experiencing a lot of pain with a severe amount of bright red bleeding. She was placed on the fetal monitor for 20 minutes and that revealed a baseline fetal heart rate of 110 beats per minute. She is having contractions every three minutes with late decelerations. No long term variability is present. After careful assessment by the resident doctor, Jane was admitted to the labor and delivery unit with the diagnosis of abruptio placentae. A placental abruption is the separation of a normally implanted placenta from the uterine wall. The separation could be partial or complete (Lowdermilk & Perry, 2007). A pregnancy...