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Nursing Interventions for Pneumonia

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Nursing Interventions Nurses play a vital role in observing and interpreting the current symptoms of patients. It is vital that nurses are able to understand the overall symptoms associated with certain diseases and drugs and can confidently present this information to the physician for review and proper patient treatment. Here, the patient's symptoms are suggesting a distinct and dangerous disease as well as possible side effects from Fentanyl. The patient's overall symptoms and lab work suggest that she is suffering from hospital acquired pneumonia. Currently the patient is presenting a moist chesty cough. Additionally, her heart rate is elevated, her oxygenation is low, and her RR is high. She has a raised white blood cell count, which indicates infection. Finally, the patient is acting confused and disoriented, which can be the direct result of a lack of oxygenation to the brain. All of these symptoms point to pneumonia (Torres, 1999). The interventions for pneumonia are as follows. First, the patient must have oxygen administered to increase the blood's oxygenation level and ensure proper oxygenation to the body's organ systems. As the patient is treated with oxygen, she should be encouraged to breath deeply, as oxygen is the best cure of pneumonia. Next, vitals should be consistently monitored and oxygen treatment repeated whenever the oxygenation level drops below 90 percent. Finally, the on-call physician should be notified of the patient's condition so that

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