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Scoliosis (Picmonic)
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Hi everyone. Today, we are going to be creating a nursing care plan for scoliosis. So let's get started. First, we're going to go over the pathophysiology. So scoliosis is an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine with a twisting that causes a C or an S shape in the spine. Nursing considerations. We want to assess vital signs, full head to toe assessment, pain management, range of motion exercises, brace care, surgical education, and any follow up care. Desired outcome. The patient will have optimal physical mobility. The patient will have minimal pain, and the patient will have an adequate breathing pattern. Here's an example of scoliosis. So you're going to notice in this picture, this curvature right here. You're going to notice how it kind of has C shaped here right around here and kind of an S starting up here kind of goes down and around like an S. So this is what is known as scoliosis of the spine right here.
So we're going to go ahead and get started on the care plan. We're going to be writing down some of that subjective data and that objective data. So you're going to see what the patient is complaining of or what you're going to actually physically see of the patient. So they're going to say they have some shortness of breath. It's very common. And some hip pain. Some objective data that you might notice is that curvature. That is a very telltale sign. And you might notice as well that unevenness, that one of your hips is higher. So one hip might be higher than the other, or the opposite with the leg. One leg might be longer than another. They may also be complaining of some back pain, have an uneven waist, or even uneven shoulders.
Some interventions that we want to do are a full assessment; you want to note any sort of abnormalities of the legs, the shoulders, and hips. You want to assess their physical mobility. You want to determine the severity by just looking at the degree of that curvature. You're going to assess those vital signs, breathing patterns, And you want to auscultate those breath sounds. You want to make sure you're encouraging deep breathing exercises and administering any oxygen as necessary. Patients with altered posture may have less than adequate lung expansion because of changes in the shape of the thoracic cavity that can lead to respiratory infections and decrease lung function. Deep breathing exercises help improve lung inflation. We're also going to assess pain as pain is big for these patients because that curvature of the spine can cause pressure on muscles, nerves, and spinal discs that result in pain for those patients. We can do non-pharmaceutical interventions; that's the first choice to relieve pain. So that could be some heat or cold compresses. You can do some massage, Maybe it's changing their position. So repositioning the patient, making sure you're doing that every two hours and, when necessary, giving medication. So you want to administer any sort of anti-inflammatory medications, analgesics as appropriate. Other interventions are we want to provide range of motion exercises. So any active range of motion or passive range of motion, you want to encourage strengthening of those muscles and flexibility. It promotes good posture and it prevents contractors and encourages mobility for those patients. Another intervention. We want to make sure that we're educating the patient and or the parents on braces; how to properly use a back brace, and that will help relieve the pain and it'll provide stability for the patient and the spine. Ideally, the brace can help slow down the progression of the spine curve, but it typically can't correct it. You also want to make sure you're assessing for any sort of skin breakdown with using the braces. You want to make sure it's fitted properly and you want to make sure you're monitoring for any sort of signs of skin breakdown and proper fit. Any blisters, any sores, you want to make sure you're looking for that. Another intervention is we want to make sure we're providing any sort of pre- and post-op instruction. So, if any of these treatments don't work, they may end up doing surgery to surgically correct the spine. So any patients that have severe deformities in the spine will be eligible for surgery. And that is when the physician's going to end up strengthening or straightening that spine with rods and screws. So you want to make sure we're preventing infection at the surgical site. And we want to promote early ambulation and range of motion exercises, post-op for these patients. You want to make sure we're educating the patient and parents regarding physical activities after surgery.
Especially for kids, any contact sports in general are high risk activities. These should be avoided following surgery and while they're wearing a brace, because you want to make sure you're preventing any sort of further injury to the spine for the patient. You want to encourage regular monitoring. So follow up appointments; you want to make sure that they're having those follow up appointments to make sure that the condition is not getting any worse than what they were previously by seeing the physician,
Okay, we're going to go into some of those key points. So scoliosis; it's an abnormal sideways curve of the spine with that twisting that causes that C or that S shape in the spine injuries to the spine. Bad posture and connective tissue disorders are all causes of scoliosis. Some subjective objective data that you'll see with the patient. They'll complain of shortness of breath. Some hip pain and back pain. One leg might be longer than the other one. Hip might be higher than the other, uneven waist, curvature of that spine. That is the hallmark of this - uneven shoulders. We're going to be doing vital signs assessments, and working on those range of motion exercises. So we're going to make sure we're checking those vital signs, noting the severity of that spine curvature in these patients, managing their pain, and providing the range of motion exercises. So that's going to be your active range of motion and your passive range of motion. We’re going to be doing brace education, surgery, reeducation, and follow-up. So you want to make sure that you have a proper brace that fits well. You're looking for any sort of skin breakdown. You want to educate them about activities to avoid to prevent any further damage, and provide education about pre- and post-surgical care, making sure they're following up with the physician. You want to make sure that this condition is not getting any worse
And there you have it. That completed care plan. You guys did wonderful. We absolutely love you guys. Go out and 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 be writing down some of that subjective data and that objective data. So you're going to see what the patient is complaining of or what you're going to actually physically see of the patient. So they're going to say they have some shortness of breath. It's very common. And some hip pain. Some objective data that you might notice is that curvature. That is a very telltale sign. And you might notice as well that unevenness, that one of your hips is higher. So one hip might be higher than the other, or the opposite with the leg. One leg might be longer than another. They may also be complaining of some back pain, have an uneven waist, or even uneven shoulders.
Some interventions that we want to do are a full assessment; you want to note any sort of abnormalities of the legs, the shoulders, and hips. You want to assess their physical mobility. You want to determine the severity by just looking at the degree of that curvature. You're going to assess those vital signs, breathing patterns, And you want to auscultate those breath sounds. You want to make sure you're encouraging deep breathing exercises and administering any oxygen as necessary. Patients with altered posture may have less than adequate lung expansion because of changes in the shape of the thoracic cavity that can lead to respiratory infections and decrease lung function. Deep breathing exercises help improve lung inflation. We're also going to assess pain as pain is big for these patients because that curvature of the spine can cause pressure on muscles, nerves, and spinal discs that result in pain for those patients. We can do non-pharmaceutical interventions; that's the first choice to relieve pain. So that could be some heat or cold compresses. You can do some massage, Maybe it's changing their position. So repositioning the patient, making sure you're doing that every two hours and, when necessary, giving medication. So you want to administer any sort of anti-inflammatory medications, analgesics as appropriate. Other interventions are we want to provide range of motion exercises. So any active range of motion or passive range of motion, you want to encourage strengthening of those muscles and flexibility. It promotes good posture and it prevents contractors and encourages mobility for those patients. Another intervention. We want to make sure that we're educating the patient and or the parents on braces; how to properly use a back brace, and that will help relieve the pain and it'll provide stability for the patient and the spine. Ideally, the brace can help slow down the progression of the spine curve, but it typically can't correct it. You also want to make sure you're assessing for any sort of skin breakdown with using the braces. You want to make sure it's fitted properly and you want to make sure you're monitoring for any sort of signs of skin breakdown and proper fit. Any blisters, any sores, you want to make sure you're looking for that. Another intervention is we want to make sure we're providing any sort of pre- and post-op instruction. So, if any of these treatments don't work, they may end up doing surgery to surgically correct the spine. So any patients that have severe deformities in the spine will be eligible for surgery. And that is when the physician's going to end up strengthening or straightening that spine with rods and screws. So you want to make sure we're preventing infection at the surgical site. And we want to promote early ambulation and range of motion exercises, post-op for these patients. You want to make sure we're educating the patient and parents regarding physical activities after surgery.
Especially for kids, any contact sports in general are high risk activities. These should be avoided following surgery and while they're wearing a brace, because you want to make sure you're preventing any sort of further injury to the spine for the patient. You want to encourage regular monitoring. So follow up appointments; you want to make sure that they're having those follow up appointments to make sure that the condition is not getting any worse than what they were previously by seeing the physician,
Okay, we're going to go into some of those key points. So scoliosis; it's an abnormal sideways curve of the spine with that twisting that causes that C or that S shape in the spine injuries to the spine. Bad posture and connective tissue disorders are all causes of scoliosis. Some subjective objective data that you'll see with the patient. They'll complain of shortness of breath. Some hip pain and back pain. One leg might be longer than the other one. Hip might be higher than the other, uneven waist, curvature of that spine. That is the hallmark of this - uneven shoulders. We're going to be doing vital signs assessments, and working on those range of motion exercises. So we're going to make sure we're checking those vital signs, noting the severity of that spine curvature in these patients, managing their pain, and providing the range of motion exercises. So that's going to be your active range of motion and your passive range of motion. We’re going to be doing brace education, surgery, reeducation, and follow-up. So you want to make sure that you have a proper brace that fits well. You're looking for any sort of skin breakdown. You want to educate them about activities to avoid to prevent any further damage, and provide education about pre- and post-surgical care, making sure they're following up with the physician. You want to make sure that this condition is not getting any worse
And there you have it. That completed care plan. You guys did wonderful. We absolutely love you guys. Go out and be your best self today and, as always, happy nursing.
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