Question

A 5-year-old child is in the hospital for a sickle cell crisis. The parents are both attentive, but are taking turns at the beside as they also have two small kids at home. When you assume care for the patient, you arrive to find the patient in pain and the father present and appearing exhausted and under stress.

What are some complications that can result from of sickle cell crisis? What should a nurse monitor and check for in relation to interventions and implementations (subjective, objective and diagnostic studies)?

Answer 1

Answer: A person who has sickle cell disease can become more likely to get infections because the damaged cells eventually clog the spleen. A severe attack, known as sickle cell crisis, can cause pain because blood vessels can become blocked or the defective red blood cells can damage organs in the body.

• Stroke. ..
• Acute chest syndrome. ...
• Pulmonary hypertension.
• Organ damage.
• Blindness.
• Leg ulcers.
• Gallstones.
• Priapism.

For all analgesia, the patient's respiratory rate, pain and sedation are assessed at 20‐minute intervals until pain control is reached, then monitored with analgesia re‐administered every four hours.