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Managing  Pediatric  Pain:  One  plan  does  not  fit  all

Managing Pediatric Pain: One plan does not fit all

Pain occurs when the body develops feelings of hurt or intense discomfort. It is a way of sending a message about the occurrence of an injury to the brain. Managing pediatric pain or any other involves blocking of these messages or reduces the effect on the mind.

Pain management is essential because failure to take action makes the body to release some chemicals that might delay healing from the cause of the hurt such as surgery, injury or broken bones. Parents, pediatric nurses, and doctors should work together to determine and follow up with the best plans for controlling pain.

The best plan depends on the child, cause, and level of as one method does not fit everyone.

Pharmacological method of managing pediatric pain

1.Pain medications

Some of the pain medications are available over the counter while other others require a prescription by a doctor. Opioids are the category of pain-relieving medicine that requires a prescription by a physician and is not on sale over the counter. An opioid is a narcotic pain reliever containing natural synthetic or semi-synthetic opiates for some types. An opioid is often for treating acute pain such as that occurs for a short term after surgery. Children who are not 12 years old yet should not take Tramadol or codeine for pain or a cough. Teenagers who are under 18 should avoid Tramadol after a tonsil or adenoids removing surgery.

Acetaminophen (Tylenol) pain-relieving medicine is available over the counter although doctors also recommend some of OTC medications. Doctors might also recommend OTC or prescription strength NSAIDs like ibuprofen. Aspirin is not safe in children and teenagers who are below 19 years unless it is on instruction by a doctor. Aspirin at this age can cause Reye’s syndrome if a patient takes it during or after fever –causing or viral illness.

2.Patient-controlled analgesia (PCA)

Children at the age of 4-6 years can take PCA with the help of a nurse or parent. Children of six or more years can use a PCA pump to take medicine without help but might require supervision in the first days.

3.Antidepressants

These are drugs that treat pain and emotional conditions by adjusting levels of natural chemicals (neurotransmitters) in the brain. These medications might increase the availability of bodily signals to promote relaxation and well-being. Antidepressants help to manage pediatric pain in instances of chronic pain conditions that do not entirely respond to usual treatments.

4.Epidural Analgesia

Epidural analgesia is a pain medication that a doctor injects into the epidural space of spinal cord. Doctors usually perform it around significant surgeries such as spinal, abdominal or low extremity surgeries to control postoperative pain.

Some of these above medications are similar to those that adults take to manage pain, but the dose for pediatric administering is smaller to match the patient’s weight. Adhering to the dosing prescription by a pediatrician is essential.

Managing Pediatric Pain with Non-Pharmacological Therapies

Various therapies can help in addition to medical help to decrease pain in a child. The primary healthcare provider will participate in choosing the treatments that suit the infant. Each therapy might suit children of specific age groups.

The many therapies that can help to manage pain are:

Ice: Applying ice on a painful body part reduces pain, swelling and might prevent tissue damage. The method of application involves placing an ice pack or crushed ice set in a plastic bag before covering it with a towel and putting it on the painful section for 15 -20 minutes. A physician might recommend placement for a longer time.

Heat: Heat helps to decrease pain together with muscle spasms. It works when someone applies heat to the painful area for 20-30 minutes every two hours for the days that a healthcare provider directs.

Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS): TENS is a pocket-sized portable device that uses battery power which relieves pain by emitting mild and safe electrical signals that help in controlling pain. It attaches on the child’s skin after placement over the area of pain.

Massage therapy: Massage helps to relax the muscles of a child and decrease pain.

Physical therapy: exercising decreases pain by improving movement and strength.

Relaxation exercises and distraction of attention to other things other than pain help in managing pediatric pain if it is not severe. Pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods complement each other in instances of chronic pain.

How  Long  Should  a  College  Admissions  Essay  Be?

How Long Should a College Admissions Essay Be?

An admissions essay demonstrates the characters in addition to academic qualifications that make a student to be an excellent candidate for admission. It explains the reason why a student has an interest in pursuing a course at a particular college and the value he or she will add to the institution.

An appropriate length of a college admissions essay for a college admissions essay should be close to the word limit as possible. A writer should think of it within 50 words as lower bound and word limit as the upper restricted.

The shortest word limit for college essays at most colleges is around 250 words which fit is less than half of a single-spaced page. The maximum number of words is 650 words at most colleges. The word limit usually is around 600 words fitting slightly over a single-spaced page. There could see many things that an applicant can write, but admissions essays should stay short as admissions officers receive lots of them and must read everything.

Writing within the range of words in the instructions is essential. For instance, if the word limit is 500 words, it is essential to write about 450 -500 words.

College essay prompts usually have a word limit in the instructions or prompt. For example, some colleges might provide a prompt that requires the applicants to explain their interest in the selected area and describe the recent explorations and ways of developing this interest within and outside a classroom.

Applicants can explain the way their major will relate to their future career goals. Students who apply to general studies should explain their academic interests, strengths, and future career goals. They might include any areas or majors they are considering. They should limit their response to 300-400 words. If there is word range in the prompt, writers should stay within it.

Writing Over or Under the Word Limit of a College Admission Essay

Applicant should restrict their writing to word count in the prompt but can probably get away with exceeding by a few words when there is a need to attach a document. Some colleges do not have misgivings if some admissions essays exceed the limit by a few words. However, the safest option is to write without exceeding the word limit unless there is an explicit reason for the allowance.

Risk of exceeding the word limit

It might be impossible to fit all the content if the admission essay requires copy-pasting into a text box. The last part of the essay might be cut off creating a need start finding a way of trimming down. Another risk of going overboard is that an admissions counselor might decide not to read an essay beyond the word limit range.

Writing under the limit

It is probably fine if an applicant can get the point across beneath the word threshold. Brevity is now always a bad thing when writing an admissions essay provided that the content is clear, convincing and communicates the reason for writing.

Nonetheless, most of the college essays have extremely tight word limits. For instance, it might be more helpful to determine if there is something more to support or elaborate the points if an admissions essay reaches just 300 words when the limit is 500 words. A teacher, parent or a friend can help to identify more details or expanding a point that will help to eliminate the large gap in the actual and required work range.

It is also essential to reach the bottom end of the word range if a college provides the minimum number of words. For example, the requirement for an applicant is that they write 400-500 words. It is essential to reach the 400 words, or it might appear as if there was nothing else to say which not an impression that an applicant should create

Following directions is an essential part of a college application process including the word limit. Applicant should make sure that they within the word limit achieve the following:

  • Answer the essay’s question or complete the argument
  • Achieve flow and cohesiveness
  • Demonstrate unique qualities that will add something to the college

A college admissions essay should have examples to create a visual depiction of the things that an applicant has gone through and their impact in showing the way it has contributed to an interest in the college.

How  to  Make  Your  Writing  More  Interesting  for  Middle  School

How to Make Your Writing More Interesting for Middle School

Middle school is an academic level for children around 9-13 years which someone can consider to be a junior high school.

Children at this age should be writing something coherent and enjoyable to read. Teachers, parents, and guardians can make students of the middle school write work that is more interesting by encouraging writing both at home and school. The students should always have something to write even if it is not extensive for them to develop writing skills and eliminate intimidation. They can enhance their writing skills by trying short stories of entertainment, journal entries every day, best wishes cards and poems among others.

Teachers can play an essential role in improving writing skills by encouraging more writing from elementary class. The learners can begin by writing short stories on simple subjects like a favorite pet. Middle-class students should also make their writing more interesting.

Tips To Make Writing More Interesting For Middle School

An interesting topic

An interesting topic at hand makes writing to be simple, and the enthusiasm in the writers makes the piece interesting even to the readers. Writing something that you find interesting simplifies writing. Lack of exciting subject makes the writer draft sentences that deliver nothing even when they sound meaningful.

The reading material at the middle school is more intense than at elementary level. An excellent way to determine an exciting thing to write is to read widely from various materials and take notes. It is from one of these materials where you find and a topic with compelling information to share with the readers.

The topic and content should be specific because it engages the readers than something ambiguous that causes the reader to get divided attention. For example, these two sentences describe fruit trees in a garden, but one is more specific.

1.The garden has a lot of fruit trees.

2.The garden has 10 varieties of fruits including oranges, guavas, lemons, guavas, and blackberries.

The sentence with more specifics makes readers imagine an appearance on the garden.

Use of simple words

It is interesting to read something that is in a simple to understand language because of quick grasping of issues. Writing with pompous language for middle school reduces readability and makes the work boring as it is not easy to understand. A writer for middle school should use simple words like near but not proximity, help but facilitate and start or begin instead of commencing. A writer can use longer words but when the meaning is precise, and no other words will fit.

Writing in short sentences

Sentences for this level of writing should be short because they are simple to understand. Each sentence should have a simple thought. It creates complexity and confusion to place more than a straightforward idea in a sentence.

Maintaining short paragraphs

The paragraphs like sentences should also be short and mostly elaborating on one idea or those that relate closely. You can read newspapers to determine the significance of short paragraphs. The purpose of the short sections is to simplify reading which because brains absorb information better when it is in small chunks. A paragraph when developing scholarly work develops one idea and may include many sentences. Casual writing is less formal hence paragraphs can be short as one sentence or even a word.

Use of active voice

Writers who are writing in English should write in an active voice that follows the subject verb object (SVO) sequence because it captures the reader's mind than passive voice. Passive voice reverses the active course to object, verb, subject (OVS) sequence, and readers find it annoying. It might be impossible to write in an active voice all through, but writers should use it much as possible.

Ending with a memorable conclusion

A conclusion should be captivating to bring and summarize the work with the last perspective on the topic. A determination should have three to five sentences that review the main points, reinforce the thesis but without introducing new words.

Although a writer might want to ‘decorate’ the work for middle school kids, it does not serve a purpose to use fluffy qualifying words that do not add anything to the meaning because they will suck the life out of the sentences. For instance, there is no need to write "it is vital to avoid the empty fluff words as they are distracting." The words rather and are qualifying words that do not add any value to the work.

How  Much  Schooling  Is  Needed  to  Be  an  Intensive  Care  Unit  Nurse?

How Much Schooling Is Needed to Be an Intensive Care Unit Nurse?

Intensive care unit (ICU) nurse is a registered nurse who takes care of the critically ill and injured people .ICU nursing work includes monitoring the life-sustaining devices and overseeing patient medications. Intensive care nurses can also be nurse practitioners (NP). The role of ICU nurses is to take care of the acutely ill patients for all ages. They work in intensive care units, critical care settings and burn centers.

An ICU nurse should have specialized training, knowledge and skills to provide care to critically ill patients. These nurses working in these specialized units take care of healthcare demands requiring close monitoring. They usually take care of one to three critical patients at a time in ICU.

Schooling Needs To Become an Intensive Care Unit Nurse

The first step to becoming an ICU nurse is to get a nursing education. The education to become an intensive care nurse can be an Associate’s or a bachelor’s degree to qualify as a registered nurse and apply for a license. Many degree programs offer an option to study coursework that teaches the students to work with an emergency, trauma as well as life support patients. These are some of the courses that make up the degree course.

  • Anatomy
  • Physiology
  • Microbiology
  • Psychology
  • Chemistry
  • Nutrition
  • Different social and behavioral sciences

The course might also include some liberal arts and various core subjects such as nursing ethics and mental health nursing. Some of the programs might have critical care focus yet others might offer supplemental certificates in critical care nursing. These programs usually may have courses including clinical nursing, health assessment, pharmacology, human responses and advanced care in illness.

Online Studies for Intensive Care Unit Nurse

There are some available options for online studying. More nursing schools now offer online education options. It is essential for students who want to pursue their nursing intensive care unit nurse schooling online to make sure that they choose a fully accredited program by one of the recognized bodies. The nurses need to gain some clinical experience that they can get from various settings in addition to the schooling .

A nursing student with an ambition to become a critical care nurse should try to perform many rotations as possible in ICUs of other such settings. They build up the experience and make the resume attractive to recruiters. A good nursing school helps the students to choose the type of environment where they can fit in.

Critical care nurse practitioner (NP) is another option to become an ICU nurse after earning a master’s degree. These degree programs usually provide advanced training in core subjects including:

  • Clinical assessment
  • Pharmacology
  • Physiology
  • Patient management

Completing a nursing masters program prepares students for certification and advanced licensing. A nurse practitioner can diagnose medical problems, treat and prescribe some medications. This is an advanced role, unlike an RN position where a physician supervises and gives all the directions. Nurses do not have authority to prescribe medications. Besides, nurse practitioners should lead other nurses as their schooling and licensure place them a position where they can manage other nurses and medical staff.

Certification after Schooling to Be an Intensive Care Unit Nurse

All nurses must pass NCLEX-RN examination before they can practice as a registered nurse. They also need to get approval from other bodies regulating caregivers in critical care units. For example in the US, AACN (American Association of Critical-Care Nurses) issues Critical Care Nursing credentials for nurses intending to care for critically ill patients.

Certification might not always be a requirement, but a professional certificate demonstrates that a nurse can perform at the level of national standards. Eligibility for a certificate is only possible for nurses with a valid license and experience in working for critically ill patients. The candidate must also pass an examination that tests knowledge in critical care for a particular cluster of patients like geriatrics, adults, children or toddlers.

Nurses who choose the nurse practitioner path to work in ICU might need to acquire a certification from AACN through a Certification for Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program. The qualification for this examination should complete an accredited Master's program together with 500 hours of clinical experience under supervision during schooling. Maintaining these certifications requires a nurse to engage in continuing education training.

Intensive care unit nurse should in addition to schooling have excellent skills in communication, organizing documentation working in high-pressure situations and long hours.

False  Cancer  Diagnosis  Leads  to  Malpractice

False Cancer Diagnosis Leads to Malpractice

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death due to the complexity of treating it. A cancer diagnosis instills so much fear than almost nothing else and nobody wants to hear it. Despite the concern, millions of people get a diagnosis with some cancer, and hundreds of thousands die. The cause of so much anxiety and fear is because cancer causes many painful deaths. Medical practitioners can cause more stress for the cancer patients and their loved ones if they later find that the first diagnosis had some sort of error.

False cancer diagnosis leads to malpractice lawsuits because it causes much suffering to the patient in the form of incorrect, delayed or no treatment. Sometimes, the condition of the patient might worsen to the extent of causing death.

How Does False Cancer Diagnosis Happen

Misdiagnosis

An erroneous determination can stem from late diagnosis or an obvious misdiagnosis. A misdiagnosis relating to cancer can happen in different ways. The first occurs when a doctor diagnosed a patient with cancer and later found out that the person did not have the disease. It is the least common type of misdiagnosis which will upset the person and cause emotional stress but is not going to cause long-term physical problems.

Delayed Diagnosis

The most common type of misdiagnosis happens because of a delay in cancer diagnosis. It occurs when a patient after a cancer diagnosis determines that there is a reason to find out if the doctors should have diagnosed the disease earlier. Since cancer is a progressive condition, early diagnosis would have led to a better prognosis and treatment. It means that a delay in diagnosis can cause a different outcome than if there was an early diagnosis. Screening tests can detect some cancers before a patient starts to exhibit signs and symptoms. Cancer on these organs is that which doctors can diagnose early with screening tests include cancer on these organs:

  • Lung
  • Colon
  • Prostate
  • Breast
  • Cervix

A cancer misdiagnosis might still occur even after a screening. Mistakes in evaluating scans often lead to an incorrect determination that cancer does not exist.

Cancer will keep on progression if there are not early diagnoses and it will only be diagnosed when it is in a progressive stage.

Incorrect diagnosis procedure

Another way of cancer misdiagnosis occurs if the method of performing the screening test is erroneous. For instance, improper preparation of the bowels in colorectal cancer before the test might cause an inaccurate reading. It is a reason to request for a repeat test. It could be enough to accuse a doctor of medical malpractice for failing to order a repeat test and the patient is diagnosed later with cancer.

How to Prove That False Cancer Diagnoses Lead to Malpractice

A mistake in diagnosis does not automatically sustain a case of medical malpractice. The patient or the representing advocate must use these ways to prove that a doctor should be liable for medical malpractice during a cancer diagnosis.

1.Failing to record the correct illness: Occurs when a medical professional does not include the accurate diagnosis on a list that another doctor with similar training would have included on a diagnosis list

2.Failing to investigate a diagnosis: The meaning of this is that a doctor added the correct diagnosis to the list but without conducting appropriate testing and seeking opinions from specialists to determine if the diagnosis is viable.

3.Failing to include proper illness: Happens when a medical professional fails to include the correctly diagnosed illness on his list when the situation requires the inclusion

4.Picking the wrong illness: This is the diagnosis of the wrong disease, e.g. cancer when the patient has another disease

5.Missed Diagnosis: A medical professional declares a patient to be healthy, but it emerges that he has cancer.

6.Delayed diagnosis-A delay in diagnosing the disease by a patient’s doctor until it progresses and worsens

7.Failing to diagnose relating and unrelated disease: Occurs when a doctor diagnosis another disease but not cancer till it progresses.

Sometimes a technician will be responsible for false cancer diagnosis due to the occurrence of one of these things that alter the accuracy of the test.

  • Contamination of samples
  • Fault or malfunctioning of the testing equipment
  • Incorrect reading of test results
  • Use of improper procedure or missing of something in the test

A plaintiff in false cancer diagnosis leads to malpractice case needs to prove that there was a relationship with the doctor who had a duty of care which he breached and it is the primary cause of wrong outcome or disease progression.