Potential Complication: Gestational Hypertension

Running Head: GESTATIONAL HYPERTENSION
Maternal/Newborn Health- Gestational Hypertension
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s Note

GESTATIONAL HYPERTENSION1
Introduction
Pregnancy Induced Hypertension (PIH) or Gestational Hypertension is the onset of blood
pressure during pregnancy after 20 weeks of gestation. It can be detected even without the
presence of protein or the signs of preeclampsia. Blood pressure is diagnosed when the blood
pressure is more than 140/90 mm/Hg, twice during separate occasions after the interval of 6
hours (Magee et al., 2015). Family centered care is the approach to health care that is based on
the foundation of family care and the programs, policies, day to day interactions between
physicians, family members and patients, and facility design is related to the structure of a
family. The health care professionals involved in this care plan focuses on the significant role of
family settings in the wellbeing of a child including the family members of different ages. The
determinants of health is the factors and issues that influences the health of an individual or a
population. It could be a reason for the prevalence of gestational hypertension in pregnant
women, which is the determinants of health on an altered status. The application of nursing care
will be discussed in this paper that is related to the maternal and newborn health, which is
gestational hypertension.
Discussion
The alteration in the health status of a pregnant women or the newborn is due to several
complications during the gestational period and one of them is gestational hypertension because
it affects the wellbeing of the mother and the child. Gestational hypertension is caused in a
pregnant women due to the risk factors such as obesity, conceiving below 20 years of age or
above the age of 40, past medical history of hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and renal diseases,
pre-existing hypertension, thrombophilias, and during pregnancy if the mother has multiple

GESTATIONAL HYPERTENSION2
gestations including twins or triplets, placental abnormalities such as hyper-placentosis or
placental ischemia. Family history is another cause of complications in gestational period
(Guedes-Martins, 2016). Gestational hypertension is also known as preeclampsia that includes
proteinuria, but this paper will only focus on the issue of gestational hypertension. It affects the
health status of the newborn as well as the mother, which needs to be intervened through the help
of related nursing care plan and family centered care. There are no accurate treatment options
available for this complication because it needs to be monitored and kept under surveillance
through certain measures to keep the blood pressures at control (Kintiraki et al., 2015). Several
drug options are available for hypertension but during pregnancy, various complications have to
be considered because few antihypertensive drug can negatively affect the foetus. Some of the
medicines known as hydralazine, labetalol and methyldopa is used during severe hypertension in
pregnancy. This disease is not curable but it can be maintained with the help of controlled diet
and appropriate physical activities during pregnancy (Currie et al., 2014). The alteration in the
health status of the newborn and the pregnant women is crucial as it makes an impact on their
development and future life. High blood pressure in a pregnant woman can affect their wellbeing
such as its effect on the kidneys, low amount of blood flow to the placenta that leads to
insufficient nutrient, low birth weight or still birth of the child, leads to a future risk of
cardiovascular diseases or high blood pressure to the newborn or the mother. The complication
of hypertension during pregnancy also leads to preeclampsia, which is known as toxemia. It can
negatively affect the placenta including the kidneys, brain and liver. Preeclampsia is also the
cause of eclampsia, which is a condition of seizures and coma, sometimes death. A woman is at a
greater risk of gestational hypertension when she is going through her first pregnancy, has a
present condition of overweight of obesity, is more than the age of 40, comes from the African