Pneumonia - 7 Nursing Diagnosis

Pneumonia is a form of acute respiratory infection that affects the lungs. The lungs are made up of small sacs called alveoli, which fill with air when a healthy person breathes. When an individual has pneumonia, the alveoli are filled with pus and fluid, which makes breathing painful and limits oxygen intake.

Pneumonia is caused by a number of infectious agents, including viruses, bacteria and fungi. The most common are:

Streptococcus pneumoniae – the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia in children;
Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) – the second most common cause of bacterial pneumonia;
respiratory syncytial virus is the most common viral cause of pneumonia;
in infants infected with HIV, Pneumocystis jiroveci is one of the commonest causes of pneumonia, responsible for at least one quarter of all pneumonia deaths in HIV-infected infants.

The most common symptoms of pneumonia are:

Cough (with some pneumonias you may cough up greenish or yellow mucus, or even bloody mucus)
Fever, which may be mild or high
Shaking chills
Shortness of breath (may only occur when you climb stairs or exert yourself)

Other symptoms include:

Confusion, especially in older people
Excess sweating and clammy skin
Headache
Loss of appetite, low energy, and fatigue
Malaise (not feeling well)
Sharp or stabbing chest pain that gets worse when you breathe deeply or cough
White nail syndrome, or leukonychia

Nursing Diagnosis for Pneumonia

Ineffective Airway Clearance
Impaired Gas Exchange
Risk for Deficient Fluid Volume
Imbalanced Nutrition
Acute Pain
Activity Intolerance
Risk for Infection

Reference :

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs331/en/
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000145.htm
http://nanda-diagnosis.blogspot.com/2012/10/7-nursing-diagnosis-care-plan-for.html