MN581 unit 3 response 2 Michelle
Learning Goal: I’m working on a nursing discussion question and need an explanation and answer to help me learn.
Please respond to discussion below using APA 7th edition, 3 references dated less than 4 years, and one interactive question
Pediatric Respiratory Cases – Influenza
Influenza is a contagious disease that affects populations worldwide, and it is caused by influenza A and influenza B viruses. Swierczynska et al. (2022) states that 30 percent of the pediatric population is infected with this virus annually. Symptoms and severity can range from asymptomatic to mild symptoms to severe disease with fever, chills, muscle pain, and even death. Influenza may also produce complications, such as pneumonia, myocarditis, encephalitis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome that can lead to high mortality and hospitalization rates in children.
In my clinical, I had a family come in where all the siblings were having similar symptoms. There was a six-year-old boy, nine-year-old boy, five-year-old girl, and a six-month-old boy. Each of them had symptoms of cough, runny nose, and rash for the past three days. In addition, the 6-month-old had a fever, diarrhea, and congestion. The six-month old currently had a fever of 102.4. All four were tested via rapid test for influenza and all four tested positive. The six-year-old and nine-year-old boys were found positive for influenza A while the five-year-old girl and six-month-old were found positive for influenza B. None of the children had received the influenza vaccine.
With the supervision of my preceptor, we prescribed bromphen for the six-year-old, nine-year-old, and five-year-old and oseltamivir for all of the children. Moreover, the six-month-old was prescribed Tylenol 3 ml every three hours and to alternate with Ibuprofen 3.25 ml every three hours as needed for fever. According to Epocrates (2022), the recommended dosing for oseltamivir in regard to age and weight is as follows in this case: the six-year-old (20 kg) was prescribed 45 mg/7.5 ml orally twice a day for five days, the nine-year-old (27 kg) was prescribed 60 mg/10 ml orally twice a day for five days, the five-year-old (15 kg) was prescribed 30 mg/5 ml orally twice a day for five days and the six-month-old was prescribed 15 mg/2.5 ml orally twice a day for five days.
As Qin et al. (2022) states there are two classes of specific antiviral drugs that have been approved for treatment of influenza. These are the M-2 ion channel inhibitors and neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs). The M2-ion channel inhibitors are only effective against the influenza A virus, and most influenza strains have developed resistance to them. Therefore, these are rarely recommended to use. The NAIs, which includes oseltamivir, zanamivir, lanimamivir, and peramivir, are effective against influenza A and influenza B viruses. Oseltamivir is most commonly used in children and is the only approved anti-influenza drug for the treatment of children.
For this family we also provided good education to the children as well as the caregiver present. It is important to teach the children and caregiver good hand hygiene, covering their mouths when coughing, avoiding people who are sick, and to encourage getting the flu vaccine (CDC, 2021).
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC]. (2021). Flu and young children. Retrieved from: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/highrisk/children.htm
Epocrates. (2022). Seasonal influenza. (Version 22.6.0) [Mobile app]. App Store.
Qin, J., Lin, J., Zhang, X., Yuan, S., Zhang, C., & Yin, Y. (2022). Evaluation of the clinical effectiveness of Oseltamivir for influenza treatment in children. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 13, 1-9.
Swierczynska, M., Mirowska-Guzel, D. M., & Pindelska, E. (2022). Antiviral drugs in influenza. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(3018), 1-30.