Assessing Differences and Similarities of Practices Related to Meeting Abdominal Pain Care Needs of Diverse Individuals

This study focuses on meeting care needs for people of different age and gender on the basis of their underlying pathophysiology. It discusses the assessment data and interventions employed to best meet the medication needs of patients with abdominal pains. The study also explores the similarities and differences in signs and symptoms expressed by patients of different ages and genders.

ASSEESSING DIFFERENCES AND SIMILARITIES OF PRACTICES RELATED TO
MEETING ABDOMINAL PAIN CARE NEEDS OF DIVERSE INDIVIDUALS
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Introduction
In as much as we humans share similarities in genetic makeup, there are factors that
make our genetics different. These factors influence our vulnerability to certain diseases
and the way we respond to the illness. Among the factors include age, gender, life
experiences, socio-economy, lifestyle as well as the societal influence (Helman, 2017).
In the past study done by Biomed central public health on the effects of gender and age
on health behaviors, it was found that gender significantly influenced information
seeking. Men were not as interested as women in diabetes, osteoporosis, eye
conditions, obesity or mood disorders such as anxiety or depression. The aged
individuals were found to take much care to their health as compared to the young
individuals (Health., 2011). This study is on how to meet care needs for people of
different age and gender on the basis of their underlying pathophysiology. The study
gives the type of assessment data and interventions that are employed to best meet the
medication needs of patients with abdominal pains.
Abdominal pain is either an acute or chronic aching of the abdominal tissues. The
restrained and constrained abdominal muscles lead to abdominal cramping. Some other
common causes of abdominal pain and cramping include trauma, constipation,
appendicitis, hepatitis, endometriosis, irritable bowel syndrome and gall stones.
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The assessment data for underlying pathophysiology.
Pathophysiology deals with the abnormal physiological processes that cause or are
associated with disease or injury. They include the possible root causes of an illness in
an individual (Muralitharan & Ian, 2018). The signs and symptoms shown by an
individual are assessed and data interpreted before coming up with the interventions to
address the situation. There are two cases involving abdominal pains. The first case is
of a four- year old female child who has abdominal pain and has been experiencing
vomiting and diarrhea. Another case involves an eighty five-year old man who is having
an abdominal cramping with vomiting and diarrhea. The assessment data includes
health history, physical examination, laboratory results and diagnostics. This is meant to
help in effective decision making, nursing care and accurate diagnosis.
The admission assessment was done to both patients to evaluate their health status,
functional health pattern and to obtain a comprehensive patients’ database. Anne
Hayes, a four-year old girl child has no past history of sickness, she weighs 16 kgs.
Objective data: her vital signs which includes body temperature, blood pressure and
pain score is normal. Subjective data: She has an abdominal pain along with diarrhea
and vomiting. She has been on oral medication with no improvements. The nursing
diagnosis: acute pain related to vomiting secondary to vascular dilation and hyper-
peristalsis as evidence by patient rating pain 6 on 1-10 scale, active vomiting and
diarrhea. Mr. George, an eighty five-year old man has a medical history of postural
hypotension in the morning and poor eyesight as evidenced by use of glasses. He has a
cramping abdominal pain along with vomiting and 3 occasions of watery bowel. Nursing
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diagnosis: Pain score of 6 on scale of 1-10 as evidence by patient complaining on
abdominal cramping pain. This is related to vomiting secondary to vascular dilation and
hyper-peristalsis. Objective data: A 85-year-old man was taken to hospital by his wife
and on assessment he has postural hypotension, poor eye sight, vomits after drinking
water, his temperature is 38.2 degrees celcius, blood pressure is 105/60, respiration of
99%.
The excessive diarrhea and vomiting leads to excessive straining of the abdominal
muscles which result into abdominal pain. Relating the cause of abdominal pain to the
age, a four-year-old girl would have abdominal pain due to poor diet, dehydration and
poor sanitation. The young ones have not developed awareness on how they are
supposed to take care of themselves by being keen on what they consume and of what
quantity they should consume. The possible cause of abdominal pain in elderly
individual include the traumas and other secondary infections such as gastric ulcers.
Also, the aged individuals have complication in the digestion where the digestive system
no longer work properly. In this case, it is possible that Mr. George has digestion
complications as it is evident by excessive diarrhea and vomiting.
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The developmental similarities and differences in signs and symptoms expressed
by Anna and George.
Developmental Similarities.
Both Anna and Mr. George have been unwell with a two-day history of vomiting and
diarrhea. They are unable to tolerate any oral fluids and has had 3 episodes of watery
bowel motions and the small amount of water given to them was vomited up shortly
after consumption. The abdominal pain in Anna is possibly associated to pathogens
such as gastroenteritis consumed from the unhygienic foods and drinks. This is
because at her age she cannot tell which is the right kind of food to take. On the other
hand, Mr. George is having abdominal crumping due to overstretched abdominal
muscles from excessive vomiting. This can be attributed to poor digestion. As one
advances in age, some body tissues get worn out and fail to function properly. The
tissues involved in the digestions are not functioning properly.
Developmental differences.
Although both Anna and George has a two-day history of diarrhea and vomiting, Anna
has not been sick before while George has a medical history of eye problem as he
wears glasses, instability as he uses a walking stick and postural hypotension. As
evidenced by the age and type of pain, Anna is having an acute abdominal pain which
can be managed easily by treatment of pathogens through admission of analgesics and
deworming and the pain will cease. On the other hand, Mr. George is having a chronic
abdominal pain in form of abdominal crumping which is attributed to overstretching of
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abdominal muscles from excessive vomiting, diarrhea and dehydration. This is related
to the older age where the digestive system can no longer carry out proper digestion as
some tissues are worn out and cannot be replaced immediately by the body.
The goal for care to abdominal pain.
The SMART goal for care should be specific, measurable, achievable, results focused
and time-bound (Pellino, Gordon, & Engelke, 2015).
Specific: To manage the abdominal pain in patients as it if crucial for patients’ well-
being. This would be done by accessing the patient and controlling the pain by giving
analgesics and pain management practices.
Measurable: The pain management practices and analgesics given to the patient should
have an influence within 24 hours.
Achievable: The signs and symptoms expressed by patients shall be considered while
administering the pain management practices to make sure that the offered practices
work is according to the needs of patient.
Results-focused: By the end of 24 hours, the abdominal pain shall have reduced or
controlled entirely.
Time-bound: After 24 hours of patients’ admission, the pain shall be no more or shall
have reduced significantly (Wells, Pasero, & McCaffery, 2008).
Interventions applied to address the goal care to patients with abdominal pain.
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The intervention for addressing the goal care to a patient will apply both to nurse and
the person taking care of the patient. These include patient education and patient
assessment.
Patient education entails educating the patient or the person taking care of the patient
on the ways of abdominal pain management. These include cognitive and physical
techniques (Plan, 2018). Cognitive such as distraction to turn away attention from pain,
relaxation to induce sleep and reduce pain and music to reduce stress from abdominal
pain. Physical include massage on stomach to ease pain, cold therapy to reduce
stomach swelling which could be causing pain and repositioning to align the body in a
proper position which does not cause abdominal pain. The mother to Anna and the wife
to Mr. George will assist their patients to manage pain while at their residential places
incase the patients have a repeated abdominal pain. The patients and their caretakers
are to be educated on the preventive measures such as avoiding any infections by
ensuring proper lifestyle and diet.
The patient assessment entails daily check up on the patients’ health status to know the
response to the medication. The nurse will assess pain by examining the patient in
order to know the proper medication to administer, the nurse will have to ensure
adequate hydration which may require intravenous fluids to maintain fluid balance,
reduce abdominal pain and restore appetite.
Evaluation of implemented interventions.
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The patient education on abdominal pain management is evaluated on the basis of
patient improvement (Yeh, Jeng, & Lin, 2015). The patients will regain appetite, have
normal bowel emptying, normal urine output and decrease in abdominal pain. This will
prove that the method employed is effective.
The patient assessment by the nurse will be evaluated on the way patients respond to
the newly administered care practices (Marie, Daniel, & Hana, 2014). If the patient
responds positively to analgesics and recommended diet to the patient, then the method
is effective.
The patient should be assessed based on the response of diet intake. To Anna, the diet
shall be monitored to ensure that she takes the balanced diet in a clean environment.
The positive improvement is an indication that the abdominal pain was caused by the
pathogenic infections from the unbalanced and unhygienic diet.
Mr. George should be monitored on the regularity in the fluid intake. This is aimed at
promoting its digestive system in proper function and hydration. The fluids such as
water helps to promote digestion.
To ensure that the chosen method of intervention is working properly, the patients
should be checked from time to time on the way they are responding to a given
intervention. This is done by asking them or their caretakers questions on how they are
feeling and responding.
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The use of bowel chat to check on the frequencies of bowel emptying can be used on
both patients. Also, the food and water intake and output is to be monitored to check on
the appetite and hydrolytic conditions of the patients respectively.
Conclusion.
This study was about how to meet diverse individual care needs in patients with
abdominal pain. From current, literature it was evident that to offer appropriate care
practices, it requires the nurse to apply critical thinking, comprehensive assessment of
patients, plan for nursing practice, provide appropriate nursing practices and evaluate
the outcomes of the practices given to the patient. The age of the patient dictates the
kind of intervention used by nurses to handle the same situation. As it was in this case,
Mr. George had abdominal crumping which would have resulted from overstretched
abdominal muscles due to excessive vomiting and diarrhea which is attributed to poor
digestion from malfunctioning of digestive system due to old age. This pain may last for
long and therefore its management is long term. On the other hand, Anna hand
abdominal pain which also resulted from excessive vomiting and diarrhea which caused
overstretching of abdominal muscles. This could be associated to unhygienic diet. The
child at age of four years is unable to know which kind of food is right for consumption.
The management of this manner of pain is easy and takes the relatively shorter period.
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