Nurse Key

Postpartum maternal self-care When teaching your patient about postpartum self-care, be sure to include these topic areas and instructions. Personal hygiene Change perineal pads frequently, removing them from the front…

Phenylketonuria Phenylketonuria (PKU) is an inborn error of metabolism characterized by the inability of the body to metabolize the essential amino acid phenylalanine. Teach parents how to limit phenylalanine intake…

Phenylalanine in foods The neonate’s diet should meet his nutritional needs for optimum growth while maintaining a phenylalanine level of 2 to 8 mg/dl. Phenylalanine levels greater than 10 to…

Neonate exposed to HIV When teaching a woman and her family about caring for a neonate exposed to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), emphasize the need for:

Neonatal health promotion and illness prevention Don’t expose the neonate to persons with communicable illnesses.

Neonatal elimination Become familiar with the neonate’s voiding patterns (usually six to eight wet diapers daily).

Nausea To help the patient relieve nausea during pregnancy, give her these tips. Before getting out of bed in the morning, eat a high-carbohydrate food, such as saltines, Melba toast,…

Mastitis With today’s shortened hospital stays for childbirth, postpartum teaching is more important than ever. If your patient is breast- feeding, be sure to include these instructions about breast care…

Labor induction Be sure to discuss these topics with a patient who’s about to have labor induced.