Appendicitis Case Study (Peds) (30 min)
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Outline
A 4-year-old girl comes into the emergency room for nausea, vomiting, fever and abdominal pain. The mother reports that the child has been saying their tummy hurts for the past 3 days and not wanting to eat very much but that today she started to throw up.
What nursing assessment data and history questions would you obtain at this time?
The emesis is yellow and the child has thrown up 4 times. Upon assessment of the child, the girl cries anytime she sees a nurse or doctor and hugs her blanket and mother. The nurse notes tears, pink dry skin and a patent airway. The nurse stays in the room and plays with the child until the nurse is finally able to get a set of vitals:
HR 122
RR 28
BP 91/52
Temp 101°F axillary
The child still will not let anyone auscultate or palpate her abdomen. The doctor orders blood work, Tylenol and an X-Ray of the abdomen. The nurse draws the blood work and sends the child to X-Ray with her mother.
Which labs do you expect will be abnormal for the child?
Before administering the Tylenol, what should the nurse check?
The child has returned from X-Ray and is cuddled up with her mother and blanket. The child still will not let the nurse listen with her stethoscope but isn’t crying anymore. The X-Ray has resulted and shows the child has appendicitis. The nurse knows she needs to prepare the parents and the child for being admitted to the hospital and surgery. A re-check in vital signs shows the following:
HR 110
BP 95/53
RR 22
Temp 101.2°F axillary
The OR schedules the child’s surgery for tomorrow at 6 AM and the hospital room is ready for the child to be admitted to overnight. When you start a FREE trial you gain access to the full outline as well as:Which non-pharmacological interventions should the nurse implement at this time to address the child's fever
What would be the most concerning behavior that the nurse should be watching out for in the child?
What is the most important thing for the nurse to educate the mother on before sending them to the room?
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Nursing Case Studies
This nursing case study course is designed to help nursing students build critical thinking. Each case study was written by experienced nurses with first hand knowledge of the “real-world” disease process. To help you increase your nursing clinical judgement (critical thinking), each case study includes answers laid out by Blooms Taxonomy to help you see that you are progressing to clinical analysis.
We encourage you to read the case study and really through the “critical thinking checks” as this is where the real learning occurs. If you get tripped up by a specific question, no worries, just dig into an associated lesson on the topic and reinforce your understanding. In the end, that is what nursing case studies are all about – growing in your clinical judgement.
