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Incompetent Cervix Pathochart (Cheat Sheet)
Example Care Plan_Preterm Labor / Premature Labor (Cheat Sheet)
Blank Nursing Care Plan_CS (Cheat Sheet)
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Example Nursing Diagnosis for Preterm Labor / Premature Labor
- Risk for Preterm Birth: Preterm labor is a risk factor for delivering a premature infant. This diagnosis highlights the potential for preterm delivery.
- Anxiety: Patients experiencing preterm labor may feel anxious about the health of the baby. This diagnosis addresses their emotional well-being.
- Risk for Maternal Injury: Preterm labor can have maternal risks, including infection and uterine rupture. This diagnosis emphasizes potential maternal harm.
Transcript
Hey guys, today, we are going to be creating a nursing care plan for preterm labor and premature labor. So, let's get started. First, we want to talk about the pathophysiology. So, when the body begins preparing for earlier than expected; normal pregnancy usually lasts around 40 weeks, but in preterm labor contractions cause the cervix to begin to change and open before 37 weeks' gestation nursing considerations, you want to be sure you're going to get a full gynecological obstetric history, assess vital signs, place the fetus on a monitor, position the patient on their left side. Make sure you have IV access for fluids, medications, complete a vaginal exam, and provide patient education. Some desired outcomes: labor will be suppressed, and pregnancy maintained until fetal maturity.
So, we're going to go ahead and get started on the care plan. We're going to make sure that we're going to put in here some subjective data of what the patient may tell you or some objective data that we're going to see in a patient. So, one of the big things is going to be some frequent contractions. Mom will have frequent contractions and also any sort of vaginal spotting or bleeding. And also, you're going to notice for any sort of preterm labor that the cervix is going to be dilated greater than four centimeters. So, if you think for a full centimeter, like the 10 centimeters across here, it's just going to be dilated just a little bit, to like, probably about here. So, some nursing interventions that we're going to do for this patient, we want to make sure we're getting a full history from the mom. So, you want to know if they've had any preterm labor or pregnancies that have been too close together in the past, because that can increase the risk of preterm labor and also determine what symptoms began and when they began. You also want to make sure we're getting vital signs on the mom. So, you want to get a baseline set of vitals before any sort of intervention. Other things we want to do we want to place an external fetal monitor on the mom. This is going to allow you to observe and monitor the frequency and quality of the contractions that the mom is having as well as notice any sort of signs of fetal distress - very, very important. We want to make sure we're placing the patient in a comfortable position on the left side, which is important. This will provide comfort as well as making sure we're reducing contractions and maintaining the maternal fetal blood flow. We want to make sure we have IV access for fluids and medications. Certain medications that we might give are some magnesium sulfate, antiemetics, tocolytics, corticosteroids, antibiotics, or analgesics. So, fluids, we want to make sure that we're treating for dehydration as dehydration can be a major cause of preterm labor also if medications are given and able to stop the preterm labor and also progress from having delivery. We want to perform a vaginal exam, so we want to make sure we're assessing for that dilation, and again, dilation preterm is greater than four centimeters. We want to make sure we're providing patient education. So, any symptoms of early labor, we want to make sure we're educating the patient on when to notify the physician and how time she has been contracting for or how much time that has been between the contractions for the mom, making sure she's avoiding smoking, she's avoiding any sort of alcoholic intake and making sure that she's having proper nutrition throughout her pregnancy. And so, if preterm labor cannot be stopped, we want to make sure we're preparing the patient for delivery. So, we're going to give them education resources and above all give them emotional support, because this can be pretty stressful for the mom, especially since she's not at that 40-week mark and is a lot earlier. So, we want to make sure that we're there for her in addressing any sort of questions or concerns that she or any family member may have.
So key points we want to go back over. So, the body begins preparing for delivery earlier than expected. Normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, but in preterm, contractions cause the cervix to begin and open before 37 weeks. Causes that may cause the preterm labor: hypertension, pregnancy with multiple babies, previous babies, abdominal trauma, poor prenatal care, and the use of alcohol or street drugs, which is very common. Some subjective and objective data that you will see with these moms: they'll have regular frequent contractions, a dull back ache, pelvic pressure, change in the type of discharge, vaginal spotting, lightly pre rupture of the membrane. So, PROM and cervical dilation greater than four centimeters. We want to assess vital signs and we want to make sure that we're monitoring the fetus. Make sure that there's no fetal distress. We want to give them some medications and of course education. So, we want to give fluids, make sure that the mom is hydrated, because dehydration is a major cause of preterm labor and any medications to stop preterm labor. We want to educate the patient on decreasing preterm labor and surgery if they end up having surgery.
So, you guys are doing great. It was a great care plan for today. We love you guys. Go out, be your best self today and as always happy nursing.
So, we're going to go ahead and get started on the care plan. We're going to make sure that we're going to put in here some subjective data of what the patient may tell you or some objective data that we're going to see in a patient. So, one of the big things is going to be some frequent contractions. Mom will have frequent contractions and also any sort of vaginal spotting or bleeding. And also, you're going to notice for any sort of preterm labor that the cervix is going to be dilated greater than four centimeters. So, if you think for a full centimeter, like the 10 centimeters across here, it's just going to be dilated just a little bit, to like, probably about here. So, some nursing interventions that we're going to do for this patient, we want to make sure we're getting a full history from the mom. So, you want to know if they've had any preterm labor or pregnancies that have been too close together in the past, because that can increase the risk of preterm labor and also determine what symptoms began and when they began. You also want to make sure we're getting vital signs on the mom. So, you want to get a baseline set of vitals before any sort of intervention. Other things we want to do we want to place an external fetal monitor on the mom. This is going to allow you to observe and monitor the frequency and quality of the contractions that the mom is having as well as notice any sort of signs of fetal distress - very, very important. We want to make sure we're placing the patient in a comfortable position on the left side, which is important. This will provide comfort as well as making sure we're reducing contractions and maintaining the maternal fetal blood flow. We want to make sure we have IV access for fluids and medications. Certain medications that we might give are some magnesium sulfate, antiemetics, tocolytics, corticosteroids, antibiotics, or analgesics. So, fluids, we want to make sure that we're treating for dehydration as dehydration can be a major cause of preterm labor also if medications are given and able to stop the preterm labor and also progress from having delivery. We want to perform a vaginal exam, so we want to make sure we're assessing for that dilation, and again, dilation preterm is greater than four centimeters. We want to make sure we're providing patient education. So, any symptoms of early labor, we want to make sure we're educating the patient on when to notify the physician and how time she has been contracting for or how much time that has been between the contractions for the mom, making sure she's avoiding smoking, she's avoiding any sort of alcoholic intake and making sure that she's having proper nutrition throughout her pregnancy. And so, if preterm labor cannot be stopped, we want to make sure we're preparing the patient for delivery. So, we're going to give them education resources and above all give them emotional support, because this can be pretty stressful for the mom, especially since she's not at that 40-week mark and is a lot earlier. So, we want to make sure that we're there for her in addressing any sort of questions or concerns that she or any family member may have.
So key points we want to go back over. So, the body begins preparing for delivery earlier than expected. Normal pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks, but in preterm, contractions cause the cervix to begin and open before 37 weeks. Causes that may cause the preterm labor: hypertension, pregnancy with multiple babies, previous babies, abdominal trauma, poor prenatal care, and the use of alcohol or street drugs, which is very common. Some subjective and objective data that you will see with these moms: they'll have regular frequent contractions, a dull back ache, pelvic pressure, change in the type of discharge, vaginal spotting, lightly pre rupture of the membrane. So, PROM and cervical dilation greater than four centimeters. We want to assess vital signs and we want to make sure that we're monitoring the fetus. Make sure that there's no fetal distress. We want to give them some medications and of course education. So, we want to give fluids, make sure that the mom is hydrated, because dehydration is a major cause of preterm labor and any medications to stop preterm labor. We want to educate the patient on decreasing preterm labor and surgery if they end up having surgery.
So, you guys are doing great. It was a great care plan for today. We love you guys. Go out, be your best self today and as always happy nursing.
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