Question

An African-American woman, Mary, brought her infant son to the hospital with a high fever accompanied by her grandmother, Mrs. Washington. You are the nurse assigned to care for Mary’s infant son. After admitting the child to the hospital unit, you explain to Mary and Mrs. Washington the plan of care. You explain the undressed infant will be place in a cool mist tent and given a bath in cold water to reduce his temperature. The child’s mother, Mary, is agreeable to the plan of care. The grandmother, Mrs. Washington, upon seeing the child in the cold mist tent, says, “You forgot to give him a blanket. He might be cold, it is very cold outside.” You repeat your explanation that this is keeping him cool because of his high fever. Despite Mary trying to calm her grandmother, she becomes upset and concerned for her grandson. Mrs. Washington responds, “I do not understand this and I want to cover him up, he is cold.” I raised my children and have never treated a fever this way. I was taught to sweat out a fever and to feed them hot chamomile tea to bring a fever down. Case studies adapted from Galanti, G. (1997). Caring for patients from different cultures: case studies from american hospitals (2nd ed.). University of Pennsylvania Press: Philadelphia, PA. Discussion Questions: Consider the role of the nurse at the bedside in this situation. How would you handle interacting with the grandmother? What are some ways the nurse could ensure that the grandmother understood the plan of care? How might the nurse have the grandmother assist in her grandchild's care? Do you think that would help the grandmother understand the plan of care? Please post your comments to the discussion board and respond to at least one of your fellow classmate's posts.

Answer 1

1)The role of nurse is to explain the plan of care about high fever to Mary (Infant's mother) and Mrs. Washington (Infant's grandmother)

2)I will try to explain grandmother about the importance of cold water bathing in reducing temperature in case of high fever.

3)The nurse should ensure the grandmother that she has dealt with this type of infant care of high grade fever with many patients and they all got relief without any discomfort.

4)The nurse should also support the grandmother plan of care about high fever.Grandmother might be right as sweating is also a process to bring down the fever.

5) Yes,I think that the grandmother would understand the plan of care.