Patient Education Plan for Uterine Fibroids
Patient Education Plan for Uterine Fibroids
Ramona Pullum
University of Phoenix
NUR/427
Barbara Deets
May 13, 2010
Patient Education Plan for Uterine Fibroids Uterine fibroids are muscular tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus (womb). Another medical term for uterine fibroids is "leiomyoma" (leye-oh-meye-OH-muh) or just "myoma". Fibroids are almost always benign or non cancerous. Fibroids can grow as a single tumor, or there can be many of them in the uterus. They can be as small as an apple seed or as big as a grapefruit. In unusual cases they can become very large. The factors that increase a woman’s chances of developing fibroids are: age, fibroids are most common in women in their 40s and 50s, family history, women with a family history of fibroids are more likely to have them, ethnic background, African American women are more likely to develop fibroids than other ethnic groups, obesity plays a role in the development of fibroids, for heavy women the risk of having fibroids is two to three time great than average and eating habits also affect the development of uterine fibroids, eating red meat and ham is linked to fibroids (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Three out of four women will have uterine fibroids. Most women with uterine fibroids are unaware of having them, because they have no symptoms. Women who do have symptoms are bothered by, pain, frequent urination, heavy menstrual bleeding, constipation, prolonged menstrual periods, trouble emptying the bladder, backache and pain in the legs and pain during sex (MayoClinic.com, 2009). The treatment for uterine fibroids depends on the size of the tumors, the number of tumors, and whether or not there are complications associated with the tumors. Ethel C, 47 y/o African American female presented to her gynecologist with complaints of severe abdominal pain several days prior to and during menstrual period, heavy menstrual periods, break through bleeding between her
Ramona Pullum
University of Phoenix
NUR/427
Barbara Deets
May 13, 2010
Patient Education Plan for Uterine Fibroids Uterine fibroids are muscular tumors that grow in the wall of the uterus (womb). Another medical term for uterine fibroids is "leiomyoma" (leye-oh-meye-OH-muh) or just "myoma". Fibroids are almost always benign or non cancerous. Fibroids can grow as a single tumor, or there can be many of them in the uterus. They can be as small as an apple seed or as big as a grapefruit. In unusual cases they can become very large. The factors that increase a woman’s chances of developing fibroids are: age, fibroids are most common in women in their 40s and 50s, family history, women with a family history of fibroids are more likely to have them, ethnic background, African American women are more likely to develop fibroids than other ethnic groups, obesity plays a role in the development of fibroids, for heavy women the risk of having fibroids is two to three time great than average and eating habits also affect the development of uterine fibroids, eating red meat and ham is linked to fibroids (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). Three out of four women will have uterine fibroids. Most women with uterine fibroids are unaware of having them, because they have no symptoms. Women who do have symptoms are bothered by, pain, frequent urination, heavy menstrual bleeding, constipation, prolonged menstrual periods, trouble emptying the bladder, backache and pain in the legs and pain during sex (MayoClinic.com, 2009). The treatment for uterine fibroids depends on the size of the tumors, the number of tumors, and whether or not there are complications associated with the tumors. Ethel C, 47 y/o African American female presented to her gynecologist with complaints of severe abdominal pain several days prior to and during menstrual period, heavy menstrual periods, break through bleeding between her
References: MayoClinic.com. (2009). . Retrieved from http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/uterine-fibroids/ds00078 Redman, B. K. (2007). The Practice of Patient Education: A Case Study Approach (10th ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Mosby. Sue, J. (2009, October). An overview of uterine fibroids. Nurisng Standard, 24(6), 44-45. The U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institute of Health. (2010). Medline Plus. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2008). Womenshealth.gov The Federal Government Source for Women 's Health Information. Retrieved from http://womenshealth.gov/faq/uterine-fibroids.cfm