Child and Adolescent Nursing: Pathophysiology, Growth Theories, Family-Centred Care and Effects of Hospitalisation

Running Head: CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 0
Child adolescence and family Nursing
9/9/2018

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 1
The essay brings about the discussion on the child adolescence and family nursing
and the related aspects. For the purpose of the description and analysis of the nursing in the
healthcare, a case study has been chosen. It also describes the role of nurse in delivery
effective nursing care to the children. The later part of this essay leads to the demonstration
of the family centred care approach, effects of the hospitalisation of the child on the child and
the family. Therefore, these concepts in relation to the case study have been clearly stated
well which further derives remedies to the issues represented through the case (Sista et al,
2015).
Pathophysiology
The case study taken for the describing and analysing the issues or problems from the
disease represents a 4-month old boy, Jay who is admitted to the paediatric unit in a hospital
via emergency. The boy was identified with a number if symptoms such as intense abdominal
bleeding, vomiting, reduction or low-level feeding, and the changes in the bowel actions.
Patients with these symptoms feel high and intense pain and cry out loud in some cases. With
reference to the case, Jay also drew his legs up and felt intense pain. After the diagnosis and
the ultrasound, it was stated that these symptoms are the cause of intussusception.
The term intussusception refers to the severe state or condition of the human body in
which a part of the intestine slides into the adjacent intestine. Intussusception is found to be a
common illness or health issue to the children or infants who are less than 2 years of age.
This situation often blocks the flow of the foods and fluids in the body. In every 1000 infants
who take birth, every 1 to 4 children face the same problem. Primarily the issue has been
observed mostly between the infants who are 5 to 9 months old. It results in symptoms such
as intermittent spasmodic abdominal pain, vomiting, and makes the children cry out in pain
(Applegate & Sadigh, 2018).
Pathophysiology has been undertaken for the assessment of the Jay’s case. It can be
defined as the disturbance in the normal mechanical, biological and the physical functions of
the human body, which is often the result of any disease or illness. In a simpler sense, it
refers to the altered or disordered functions in the living organism. The state of the
individual’s homeostasis is affected by the same.
Intussusception explains about the telescoping of the one portion of the bowel into the
next, therefore the pathophysiology includes certain terms such as ileum, i.e. the last part of

CHILD AND ADOLESCENT NURSING 2
the small intestine, cecum, and the jejunum. The problem states that the ileum enters the
cecum, however the prolapsing of the ileum or jejunum into itself is rarely found situation.
Almost, in every case it has been found that the occurrence of intussusception takes place
when the intussusceptum is closely located to the intussuscipiens. Intussusceptum refers to
the part which is invaginated with another part during intussusception (Yen et al, 2016).
The term intussuscipiens is the part of the bowel which receives the invaginated part
during intussuception. The situation occurs due to the peralistic action of the proximal
segment into distal segment. This invagination of one part often blocks the blood supply
which leads to ischemia. The mucosa here is sensitive to the ischemia and creates a red-
currant jelly stool, which is often observed in less number of cases. Therefore, the presence
of the red-currant jelly stool must be treated differently depending on the case. Hence, the
above discussion defines about the pathophysiology of the intussusception in the children
(Smolowitz et al, 2015).
The problem described through the pathophysiology of the case often caused blood
supply to stop and the lack of blood supply may cause the intestinal walls to die. This can
further cause infection in the lining of abdominal cavity. Thus the intussusception leads to the
major illness, which can be rectified by effective health care services or effective role of the
nurse. The role of nurse is crucial in taking care of the child or adolescent intussusception.
From the beginning till the final diagnosis or the treatment of the problem nurses play an
important role. They must deliver their services by maintaining a NPO status, which will
contribute in examining the patient timely and assessing the condition of the child. It is
considered essential step because the pain may lead to the situation of proferation (Chauhan
et al, 2017).
The effective delivery of the services is often the result of an appropriate leadership
style in the healthcare. This further explains the nurse’s role in monitoring the change,
explaining the situation of the patient to their parents, about severe pain and the causes, also
how to deal with the child effectively. The nurse is also responsible to give assurance to the
parents regarding the diagnosis and the results for the condition of the child (Ruvalcaba-
Romero et al, 2017).