Nursing Assessment: Croup in Children, Family-Centered Care Approach

This nursing assignment focuses on the assessment of a pediatric patient diagnosed with croup. The assessment includes crucial components such as communication strategies with the patient's parents, emphasizing the importance of maintaining a safe and comfortable environment. It also covers the components of physical assessment, including observing the patient's appearance, identifying symptoms like runny nose, cough, and signs of airway obstruction such as stridor and wheezing. Furthermore, the assignment highlights the significance of family-centered care, emphasizing the need to involve and support the family by providing information about the child's condition and treatment plan, while also offering mental support. The assignment also details essential health history questions, such as inquiries about allergies, immunization status, and social/family conditions, to develop a comprehensive understanding of the patient's situation and inform the treatment approach. The provided references support the assessment's content.

Running head: NURSING
Nursing
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1NURSING
Assessment Components Rationales
Assessment approach and communication The communication in this case need to be
made with the parents of Billy. In this case,
it is important to maintain a safe distance of
Billy, so that he does not feel uncomfortable
and anxious. Apart from that, it is important
to interact with this parents regarding their
perspective (Wright & Bush, 2016). The
tone of communication need to be adequate
so that the family members can able to
provide information regarding the kid
(Wright & Bush, 2016). The information
includes, different events related to Billy’s
health condition.
Components of physical assessment The physical assessment involves different
components of the patient. Firstly, the
appearance of the patient is important. The
patient may appear similarly with the
common cold patient (Sarkar, 2018). Apart
from that, they may feel lethargic. Runny
nose, conjunctivitis and cough are the
primary symptom of croup in Billy.
Secondly, inspiratory stridor, expiratory

2NURSING
wheezing are the most common signs of
Croup. These symptoms are related to the
health condition of the patient.
Laryngotracheobronchitis occurred in upper
respiratory tract that causes airway
obstruction which leads to stridor and
wheezing (Sarkar, 2018).
Family-centered care Family centered care in pediatric health
facilities refers to a treatment plan not only
to the child but also the whole family who
are involved with the child during sickness
(Byczkowski et al., 2016). The concept is
developed based upon the understanding
that involvement of family plays an
important role in growth of the child.
Hence, it is important to provide
information to the parents of a child so that
they can understand about the condition and
the care provided to their child (Byczkowski
et al., 2016). In this case, family centered
care plays an important role as Billy’s
family was anxious about the situation of
their child. The first important approach
towards family centered care is to engage
them by providing adequate information

3NURSING
regarding the health condition and treatment
plan (Byczkowski et al., 2016). Apart from
that, Billy’s parents need further mental
support. This can be provided by
community caregivers. Family centered care
helps the parents to face the situation with
confidence. It can also reduce the stress of
the family members (Byczkowski et al.,
2016).
Health history questions The first important question related to health
history will be whether Billy is diagnosed
with any allergy. Spasmodic croup is can
occur due to allergic reaction in children
(Sibanda, & Gumede, 2018). In case of
Billy, he does not have fever, which is
similar in case of spasmodic croup. It is
important to understand the type of the issue
so that adequate treatment plan can be
designed. Hence, information regarding
allergy is important.
The second important question will require
the information regarding Belly’s
immunization status. Immunization plays a
significant role in preventing disease
condition (Kivekäs, & Rautiainen, 2018). In

4NURSING
this case, it is important to understand
whether Billy was immunized with
Haemophilus influenza (type b) vaccine or
not. This information can help to provide
patient centered treatment plan to the
patient.
Thirdly, information regarding social and
family condition can play a vital role to
understand the source of the infection
(Francis, 2015). In different cases,
economically weak parents failed to
maintain healthy environment for the new
born which could lead to the infection. In
such cases, it is important to avoid such
environmental conditions. Hence, it is
important for treatment planning (Francis,
2015).

5NURSING
Reference
Byczkowski, T. L., Gillespie, G. L., Kennebeck, S. S., Fitzgerald, M. R., Downing, K. A., &
Alessandrini, E. A. (2016). Family-centered pediatric emergency care: a framework
for measuring what parents want and value. Academic pediatrics, 16(4), 327-335.
Francis, J. (2015). A critical analysis and appraisal of the management of croup in the UK
out-of-hospital environment. Journal of Paramedic Practice, 7(6), 292-298.
Kivekäs, I., & Rautiainen, M. (2018). Epiglottitis, Acute Laryngitis, and Croup. In Infections
of the Ears, Nose, Throat, and Sinuses (pp. 247-255). Springer, Cham.
Sarkar, S. (2018). Assessment of Pediatric Patient. In Pediatric Nursing (pp. 180-196).
jaypee.
Sibanda, M., & Gumede, Z. (2018). Management of croup in children. SA Pharmaceutical
Journal, 85(6), 37-41.
Wright, M., & Bush, A. (2016). Assessment and management of viral croup in children.
Prescriber, 27(8), 32-37.