Nursing Bullets:Pediatric nursing

Pediatric Nursing

Extend and further strengthen your knowledge about the concepts of Pediatric Nursing with these 40 Nursing Bullets. These Nursing Bullets are bite-sized information that are easy to absorb and best to be read during your reviews for NCLEX or the board exams.

1.  A child with HIV-positive blood should receive the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) rather than oral poliovirus vaccine (OPV) immunization.
2.  A child with cystic fibrosis should eat more calories, protein, vitamins, and minerals than a child without the disease.
3. A child with an undiagnosed infection should be placed in isolation.
4. An infant usually triples his birth weight by the end of his first year.
5.  Clinical signs of a dehydrated infant include: lethargy, irritability, dry skin decreased tearing, decreased urinary output, and increased pulse.
6. Appropriate care of a child with meningitis includes frequent assessment of neurologic status (i.e., decreasing levels of consciousness, difficulty to arouse) and measuring the circumference of the head because subdural effusions and obstructive hydrocephalus can develop.
7.  Expected clinical findings in a newborn with cerebral palsy include reflexive hypertonicity and crisscrossing or scissoring leg movements.
8. Topical corticosteroids shouldn’t be used on chickenpox lesions.
9. The characteristic of the Fifth disease (erythema infections) is erythema on the face, primarily the cheeks, giving a “slapped face” appearance.
10. Ninety-ninety traction (90 degrees –90 degree skeletal traction) is used for fracture of a child’s femur or tibia.
11.  A small-for-gestational-age (SGA) infant is one whose length, weight, and head circumference are below the 10th percentile of the normal variation for gestation age as determined by neonatal examination.
12.  Neonatal abstinence syndrome is manifested in central nervous system hyperirritability (e.g., hyperactive Moro reflex) and gastrointestinal symptoms (watery stools).
13. Classic signs of a shaken baby syndrome are seizures, slow apical pulse difficulty breathing, and retinal hemorrhage.
14.  An infant born to an HIV-positive mother will usually receive AZT (zidovudine) for the first 6 weeks of life.
15.  Blood pressure in the arms and legs is essentially the same in infants.
16. When bottle-feeding a newborn with a cleft palate, hold the infant’s head in an upright position.
17.  Because of circulating maternal antibodies that will decrease the immune response, the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine shouldn’t be given until the infant has reached one (1) year of age.
18. A newborn typically wets 6 to 10 diapers per day.
19. The most adequate diet for an infant in the first 6 months of life is breast milk.
20. An infant can usually chew food by 7 months, hold spoon by 9 months, and drink fluid from a cup by one year of age.
21. Choking from mechanical obstruction is the leading cause of death (by suffocation) for infants younger than 1 year of age.
22. Kohlberg’s stages of moral development; Erikson’s eight stages of development; and Piaget’s stages of cognitive development.
23.  A child in Bryant’s traction who’s younger than age 3 or weighs less than 30 lb (13.6 kg) should have the buttocks slightly elevated and clear or the bed. The knees should be slightly flexed, and the legs should be extended at a right angle to the body.
24.  In an infant, a bulging fontanel is the most significant sign of increasing intracranial pressure.
25.  Roseola appears as discrete rose-pink macules that first appear on the trunk and that fade when pressure is applied.