What is the nursing management of meningitis?
Meningitis can be fatal. Nursing staff need to prioritise antibiotic treatment, as delays are associated with poorer outcomes. Testing the urine specific gravity to assess fluid status can be useful, especially in infants and children with a labile fluid status, and those on full maintenance intravenous fluids.
What are priority interventions for meningitis?
Acute bacterial meningitis must be treated immediately with intravenous antibiotics and sometimes corticosteroids. This helps to ensure recovery and reduce the risk of complications, such as brain swelling and seizures. The antibiotic or combination of antibiotics depends on the type of bacteria causing the infection.
How do you assess a patient?
Assessing patients effectively
- Inspection. Inspect each body system using vision, smell, and hearing to assess normal conditions and deviations.
- Palpation. Palpation requires you to touch the patient with different parts of your hands, using varying degrees of pressure.
- Percussion.
- Auscultation.
What are the nursing care plans for encephalitis?
Nursing Care Plans for Encephalitis. Nursing Diagnosis: Hyperthermia secondary to infective process of encephalitis as evidenced by temperature of 38.5 degrees Celsius, rapid breathing, profuse sweating, and chills. Desired Outcome: Within 4 hours of nursing interventions, the patient will have a stabilized temperature within the normal range.
What does a neuropsychological assessment of encephalitis do?
A neuropsychological assessment aims to gather information about an individual’s cognitive functioning following encephalitis. The assessment evaluates functioning in a number of areas including: attention/concentration, speed of thinking, intelligence, learning and memory, language, perception, problem solving, planning, organisation, and mood.
What are the symptoms of infant encephalitis?
Infants may have symptoms of bulging fontanels or soft spots in the skull, as well as poor feeding. Young children may show irritability, nausea and vomiting. Primary encephalitis happens when a virus or another pathogen causes an infection in the brain.
What are the outcomes of encephalitis in adults?
Encephalitis can range from mild with full recovery to fulminant leading to death in 4% to 30% of those affected. Approximately one-half of encephalitis survivors have permanent neurologic deficits and require long-term care.