Watch More! Unlock the full videos with a FREE trial
Add to Study plan
Master
Included In This Lesson
Study Tools
Varicella (Chickenpox) (Picmonic)
Chickenpox Pathochart (Cheat Sheet)
Example Care Plan_Varicella / Chickenpox (Cheat Sheet)
Blank Nursing Care Plan_CS (Cheat Sheet)
Access More! View the full outline and transcript with a FREE trial
Transcript
Hi everyone. Today, we are going to be creating a nursing care plan for varicella chickenpox. So, let's get started first. We're going to talk about the pathophysiology of varicella chicken pox. Varicella, which is more commonly known as chickenpox is a viral infection that causes an itchy rash with small blisters on the skin and flu-like symptoms. Some nursing considerations. You want to do an assessment, vital signs, managing the itching, administering any medications, encouraging re and educating the parent and or caregiver. Some desired outcomes. The patient will remain comfortable and able to rest. The patient will not develop any sort of secondary infection.
And here I wanted to show you guys a picture. So, as you see, you're going to see all of these little to tiny blisters all over the chest area here and mind you, these can appear anywhere on the body, but you see how there's just a bunch everywhere. There's some on the arms, on the torso, they can appear anywhere. So, we're going to go ahead and get right into the cure plan. We're going to be writing down some subjective data and some objective data. So, what are we going to see in a patient with varicella chickenpox? Well, one of the things they're going to tell you, one of the main things is there's going to be some intense itching. They're going to be scratching a lot. They're super, super itchy. One of the other things that's very common is a fever, they are going to have a fever, and you're going to see those red blisters and it could be anywhere on the body.
Some other things that you'll see, they'll complain of some body aches, maybe a possible loss of appetite, some fatigue, headache, and you may see some crosser scabs on the skin. So, like later in the process of the varicella, some interventions that we're going to be doing, so you want to perform a complete physical assessment of the patient. So, you want to make sure you're looking head to toe to see if it's anywhere on the arms, the torso, the legs, you want to note any sort of active filled blisters or scabbed or crusted lesions. You want to monitor their vital signs. Fever often accompanies a chickenpox outbreak. Other changes in vital signs can indicate a development of any sort of systemic infection. Another thing that we want to do, we want to assess the skin for any sort of science of secondary infection. So secondary infection itching ends up leading to scratching, scratching leads to having any other open wounds, which is breeding ground for bacteria and infection. So, you want to be sure to trim the nails down or keep them short on children to avoid any sort of secondary infection, another intervention we want to make sure we're managing the itching
Because we want to manage, uh, not having a secondary infection. So, you can be using any sort of cool compress, maybe some baths with some oatmeal or corn starch. That's really soothing to the skin helps relieve that itch. And it's just super, super soothing. Another intervention is administering any sort of medications. So, this would be your antivirals, or this would be any antihistamines, Some acetaminophen for fever or for pain and calamine lotion.
You want to make sure to note you want to avoid giving or any other cell slates to children with viral illnesses due to the risk of race syndrome. So, antivirals, giving the antiviral medication may help with the lesions, the severity, or shorten the duration of the disease. Antihistamines are going to be given in order to relieve any sort of itching, then for the fever or for the pain and the calamine lotion. It can be applied to help relieve any itching and discomfort for the patient. Another invention we're going to look at is encouraging rest. We want to encourage rest because when the body's resting, more energy can be devoted to the healing process. This can also help minimize fatigue and any discomfort in the patient. Another intervention is making sure we're educating the caregiver. So, education, you want to make sure you're providing information on vaccines, uh, infection control how to prevent spreading the disease. And when the child is to return back to school or, or day, the virus can be spread to others until all the lesions have crusted over. Therefore, the child should not return to school or daycare until they're no longer contagious, even if they're feeling better. And obviously good hand hygiene helps with any sort of spreading of the infection to others. The varicella vaccine can be given three to five days after exposure or before symptoms begin in order to prevent or lessen the severity of the disease. And all children over 12 months of age should be vaccinated.
So that's our completed care plan. Let's go into some of the key points here. So, in pathophysiology, varicella is a viral infection that causes an itchy rash with small blisters on the skin. Very, very common. It is caused by the varicella zoster virus. Some subjective and objective data, what you are going to see is intense itching, body aches, fever, any presence of those red blisters is just very, very common fatigue, headache, loss of appetite. You want to do a full assessment managing that itching so you want to see the stage of the disease are the active open blisters. Are they scabbed over? You want to assess vital signs, manage itching with cool compresses, oatmeal, baths, or cornstarch. You want to give medications and do proper education. You want to give antivirals, antihistamines, acetaminophen, calamine lotions, super soothing, educate on how to prevent the spread, the vaccine, good hand hygiene. And when the child should be able to return to school and there you have it guys, a full completed care plan. We love you. Go out, be your best self today and as always, happy nursing!
And here I wanted to show you guys a picture. So, as you see, you're going to see all of these little to tiny blisters all over the chest area here and mind you, these can appear anywhere on the body, but you see how there's just a bunch everywhere. There's some on the arms, on the torso, they can appear anywhere. So, we're going to go ahead and get right into the cure plan. We're going to be writing down some subjective data and some objective data. So, what are we going to see in a patient with varicella chickenpox? Well, one of the things they're going to tell you, one of the main things is there's going to be some intense itching. They're going to be scratching a lot. They're super, super itchy. One of the other things that's very common is a fever, they are going to have a fever, and you're going to see those red blisters and it could be anywhere on the body.
Some other things that you'll see, they'll complain of some body aches, maybe a possible loss of appetite, some fatigue, headache, and you may see some crosser scabs on the skin. So, like later in the process of the varicella, some interventions that we're going to be doing, so you want to perform a complete physical assessment of the patient. So, you want to make sure you're looking head to toe to see if it's anywhere on the arms, the torso, the legs, you want to note any sort of active filled blisters or scabbed or crusted lesions. You want to monitor their vital signs. Fever often accompanies a chickenpox outbreak. Other changes in vital signs can indicate a development of any sort of systemic infection. Another thing that we want to do, we want to assess the skin for any sort of science of secondary infection. So secondary infection itching ends up leading to scratching, scratching leads to having any other open wounds, which is breeding ground for bacteria and infection. So, you want to be sure to trim the nails down or keep them short on children to avoid any sort of secondary infection, another intervention we want to make sure we're managing the itching
Because we want to manage, uh, not having a secondary infection. So, you can be using any sort of cool compress, maybe some baths with some oatmeal or corn starch. That's really soothing to the skin helps relieve that itch. And it's just super, super soothing. Another intervention is administering any sort of medications. So, this would be your antivirals, or this would be any antihistamines, Some acetaminophen for fever or for pain and calamine lotion.
You want to make sure to note you want to avoid giving or any other cell slates to children with viral illnesses due to the risk of race syndrome. So, antivirals, giving the antiviral medication may help with the lesions, the severity, or shorten the duration of the disease. Antihistamines are going to be given in order to relieve any sort of itching, then for the fever or for the pain and the calamine lotion. It can be applied to help relieve any itching and discomfort for the patient. Another invention we're going to look at is encouraging rest. We want to encourage rest because when the body's resting, more energy can be devoted to the healing process. This can also help minimize fatigue and any discomfort in the patient. Another intervention is making sure we're educating the caregiver. So, education, you want to make sure you're providing information on vaccines, uh, infection control how to prevent spreading the disease. And when the child is to return back to school or, or day, the virus can be spread to others until all the lesions have crusted over. Therefore, the child should not return to school or daycare until they're no longer contagious, even if they're feeling better. And obviously good hand hygiene helps with any sort of spreading of the infection to others. The varicella vaccine can be given three to five days after exposure or before symptoms begin in order to prevent or lessen the severity of the disease. And all children over 12 months of age should be vaccinated.
So that's our completed care plan. Let's go into some of the key points here. So, in pathophysiology, varicella is a viral infection that causes an itchy rash with small blisters on the skin. Very, very common. It is caused by the varicella zoster virus. Some subjective and objective data, what you are going to see is intense itching, body aches, fever, any presence of those red blisters is just very, very common fatigue, headache, loss of appetite. You want to do a full assessment managing that itching so you want to see the stage of the disease are the active open blisters. Are they scabbed over? You want to assess vital signs, manage itching with cool compresses, oatmeal, baths, or cornstarch. You want to give medications and do proper education. You want to give antivirals, antihistamines, acetaminophen, calamine lotions, super soothing, educate on how to prevent the spread, the vaccine, good hand hygiene. And when the child should be able to return to school and there you have it guys, a full completed care plan. We love you. Go out, be your best self today and as always, happy nursing!
View the FULL Transcript
When you start a FREE trial you gain access to the full outline as well as:
- SIMCLEX (NCLEX Simulator)
- 6,500+ Practice NCLEX Questions
- 2,000+ HD Videos
- 300+ Nursing Cheatsheets
“Would suggest to all nursing students . . . Guaranteed to ease the stress!”
