Care Plans for Pregnancy, Essay Example

A 25-year-old Caucasian female visited the clinic on 1-15-13 because she believed she was pregnant. Her last menstrual period was on 12-1-12 and she indicated that her home pregnancy test was positive. Furthermore, she has been having nausea and breast tenderness. To date the pregnancy and estimate the date of delivery of the patient, Nageles Rule will be used. Seven days were added to the last menstrual cycle and then three months were subtracted. Therefore, the pregnancy is dated at 9-8-13 and the child was conceived on or around 12-16-12. This patient is approximately one month pregnant.

Since the patient is in her first month of pregnancy, it is essential to instruct her of the proper clinical guidelines for procedures and screenings. During this first visit, the patient will be given a blood test to check her blood groups and for the possible presence of hepatitis B to determine whether there is a possibility that it will be passed to the infant. Next, a cervical smear test will be performed to determine whether the woman is anemic and whether a Rh-negative blood group is present. A urine test will be performed to check for proteinuria to determine whether there is presence of a urinary tract infector or preeclampsia. Next, combined results from the blood test and urine test will check for presence of diabetes mellitus. Lastly, a blood pressure check will be performed to screen for hypertension to ensure that there will be adequate blood supply to the placenta. Depending on the patient’s genetic history, other tests will be performed as well. In future visits, blood tests and urine tests will continue, but be supplemented by fetoscopy and fetal blood sampling, ultrasound scanning, and electronic fetal monitoring (Gulanick et al., 2014).

The patient will be asked to return for follow-up visits about once each month for weeks 4 through 28, twice a month for weeks 28 through 36, and weekly for weeks 36 to birth. Therefore, her next visit will be on 2-15-13. During this visit, the patient will be provided with information that will help enhance her health during the pregnancy and support the development of a healthy child. She will be asked to take folic acid supplements, be taught how to reduce the risk of food-acquired infections, and be asked to cease smoking and consuming alcohol as soon as possible (Khalil et al., 2010). Furthermore, a full physical will be given to the patient in order to determine her baseline readings as a point of comparison for later on in the pregnancy. Furthermore, she will be encouraged to exercise, but in manners such as walking, that reduce potential harm that can be done to the fetus (Stanford et al., 2013).

It is likely that the patient is concerned that she is feeling nauseous, but she must be made aware that certain medications are not recommended for pregnant mothers. For example, Diclegis is a Pregnancy Category A medicine for morning sickness that is recommended by physicians. However, the patient will be made to understand that this doesn’t necessarily mean it is completely harmless and she should only take medication for this symptom if she believes that it is interfering with her daily life (Smith et al., 2011). Furthermore, she will be asked to provide a list of her current medications to determine if these are safe to take throughout the pregnancy. If this is not the case, she will be switched to different medications. When the patient returns for her fifth visit, she will be provided with addition information that is relevant to her new stage of pregnancy.

References

Gulanick M, Myers JL. (2014). Nursing Care Plans: Nursing Diagnosis and Intervention. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.

Khalil A, O’Brien P. (2010). Alcohol and pregnancy. Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Reproductive Medicine. 20(10): 311-313.

Smith JA, Refuerzo JS, Ramin SM. (2011). Treatment of nausea and vomiting of pregnancy. Retrieved from http://obgyndo.com/resources/Rotating-Residents/internUptodate-Treatment-of-nausea-and-vomiting-of-pregnancy.pdf

Stanford KI, Lee M, Getchell KM, Hirshman MF, Goodyear LJ. (2013). Maternal Exercise During Pregnancy Improves Glucose Metabolism of Offspring. FASEB J, 27: 1134.4.