Alfie Negative Effects On Children

Following the Nursing and Midwifery Code of Conduct and ensuring confidentiality, dignity and respect is maintained throughout this essay, I will be changing the child’s name to Alfie (NMC, 2015). Alfie was a 3 year old who my mentor and I triaged and assessed in the early hours of the morning in A and E. He presented with a barking cough, temperature of 40°C and very irritable. These are all common signs and symptoms of croup.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2012) defines croup as “a common childhood disease”. It affects the trachea, bronchi and larynx, causing respiratory distress and a bark like cough accompanied by a stridor commonly on inspiration. All of these factors are present due to an upper air way obstruction.
For many children going to hospital is a very intimidating experience (Kids Health, 2014). Not only are they brought into a new environment but also pushed out of their comfort zone with a fear of the unknown. It was vital that I ensured Alfie was comfortable and felt secure while he was under mine and my mentor’s supervision. Further-more, ensuring family centred care was present was equally as important. Multi-disciplinary teams need to realise that parents are the experts when I comes to their children and gaining knowledge and skills from them is invaluable; (Davis, Day, and Bidmead, 2002) agrees as the partnership model of care identifies that families are the specialists. Excellent communication between the multidisciplinary teams and the families is essential for a successful partnership (Coad and Glasper, 2014). My mentor and I also needed to be aware of any social, religious and culture beliefs Alfie and his family may have which could affect his treatment (Bussey-Jones and Genao,
Moving onto C for circulation, I was looking at signs of cardiovascular failure. I started by taking Alfie’s heart rate using the monitor as well as finding his radial pulse point. I believed it was important to take a manual pulse as it enables me to feel for the rate, rhythm and amplitude of each beat (Merrifield and Ford, 2005). According to (Pritchard and Mallett, 2001) Alfie was presenting with tachycardia as his heart rate was 150 beats per minute, outside the normal, safe ranges for a 3 year old. The rhythm of his heart was normal showing that there wasn’t a disruption of the hearts normal conductive system and the amplitude was “strong and bounding” (Trim, 2005). I was expecting Alfie’s heart rate to be high due to his increased respiratory efforts. We observed Alfie regularly to insure that our interventions were effective and decreasing his signs of discomfort. I took Alfie’s temperate to see that it was 40°C but he was not showing any signs of being distressed. Research (Choices, 2014, Coad and Glasper, 2014, p169) suggests that antipyretics shouldn’t be given to a child who is comfortable with a temperature but my mentor, Alfie’s parents and I decided that due to his raised vital signs it would be beneficial for Alfie to have some paracetamol to bring the vital signs back to their normal ranges. Alfie was observed frequently after to ensure the medication was