The thyroid gland within our body is responsible for secreting the thyroxin hormone. The hormone helps to accomplish key activities within the body.
Deficiency of the thyroxin hormone can adversely affect important body functions.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look on the nursing care plan for hypothyroidism.
The clinical condition that results from the abnormally low secretion of the thyroxin hormone is referred to as hypothyroidism.
Hypothyroidism may occur in individuals at different instances. The condition is most frequent in older women.
Cancer patients who have undergone radiation therapy in the head or the neck are more susceptible to thyroid cancer.
Statistics suggest that more than 95% of patients who are suffering from hypothyroidism condition suffer from primary or thyroidal-hypothyroidism.
There can be various causes for the occurrence of the condition:
These causes include inflammation of the thyroid glands, presence of autoimmune diseases like autoimmune thyroiditis, atrophy of the thyroid gland caused due to aging, therapies like thyroidectomy can cause the condition, medications containing lithium, and iodine compounds or antithyroid medications can cause the condition to appear.
Besides, an imbalance in the levels of iodine in the blood is yet another cause for the occurrence of the condition.
There are clinical manifestations of the condition that includes extreme fatigue, enhancement in weight, intolerant to the cold, occurrence of thick skin.
If you need further explanation about hypothyroidism, check out this quick video made by Zero to Finals.
This article helps to understand the nursing care plan for hypothyroidism.
Let’s get started.
Nursing care plan for hypothyroidism patient
If a patient is suffering from the condition of hypothyroidism then it is important to do proper medical management on the part of the nursing team attending the patient.
The objective of medical management is to restore the normal metabolic state of the body by adequately replacing a missing hormone.
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The medical management includes pharmacologic therapy that involves treating the patients with synthetic levothyroxine.
Simultaneously the nurses attending patients suffering from the condition are required to make sure that the patients do not suffer from cardiac dysfunction.
Supportive therapy is also administered to patients suffering from hypothyroidism.
See also: Nursing Care Plan for CVA
In this type of therapy, the oxygen saturation levels are monitored, fluids are administered to the patients carefully, oral thyroid hormone therapy is continued, application of outside heat is avoided.
The nursing care plan for hypothyroidism incorporates the following:
In this part of nursing care, an assessment is done of the thyroid from a posterior or anterior position.
The nursing team is also required to assess whether the thyroid gland is firm or tender.
The medical practitioners use instruments like the stethoscope to understand the abnormalities that are present in the patient’s thyroid gland.
Based on the nursing assessment, a nursing diagnosis for a patient suffering from hypothyroidism is initiated.
The diagnosis includes:
- Understanding the activity intolerance levels
- Determining if the patient is intolerant to cold or if the patient has imbalances in body temperature
- Ineffective breathing patterns
- Constipation. See also: Nursing Care Plan for Constipation
- The presence of disturbed thought processes in the patient might be due to changed respiratory and cardiovascular activities
- Depressed metabolism
Planning and goals
For a successful nursing care plan for hypothyroidism, the following objectives are required to be fulfilled:
- Enhancement in participation in activities
- Enhancement in independence
- Maintaining normal body temperature
- Improvement in respiratory status
- Having a normal bowel function
- Maintaining a normal pattern in breathing
- Improvement in thought processes
For a patient who is suffering from the condition hypothyroidism, nursing interventions incorporate the following:
- The nursing professional must promote rest in patients suffering from hypothyroidism.
- The person should protect the patient against coldness.
- The nurse should make sure that the patient is not exposed to external heat.
- The nursing-professional needs to monitor the temperature of the patient body.
- The professional should help the patients to enhance fluid intake.
- Should provide foods that are enriched in fiber.
- Should manage respiratory symptoms in the patients.
- Must encourage the patient to do pulmonary exercises like deep breathing, use of incentive spirometry.
- The nursing professional should orient the patient to place, date, and time as well as the events that are happening around him or her.
See also: Nursing Care Plan for COPD – Full Guide
Nursing care plan for hypothyroidism in pregnancy
Women menstruate every month and in the process of menstruation, an egg is released from the ovary.
If a woman is suffering from hypothyroidism then the egg may be released less frequently or not at all.
In a pregnant woman, the condition of hypothyroidism can interfere with the development of the fertilized egg or embryo.
A pregnant woman suffering from hypothyroidism and who is not treated adequately for the condition may result in the premature birth of a baby.
Therefore, women thinking of getting pregnant need to do regular medical checkups, have their thyroxin levels in the blood checked from time to time, receive proper treatments in case of an anomaly in the levels of thyroxin in the blood.
The nursing professionals require to promote rest in these patients, ensure that the patients have regular fluid intakes, fiber intakes, and most importantly effective medication to counter the condition
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Sample nursing care plan for hypothyroidism
The sample nursing care plan for hypothyroidism must have a nursing assessment, diagnosis, proper planning, and goals, it must have nursing interventions, evaluation, discharge guidelines if the patient has been discharged from the hospital or medical clinics, home care guidelines.
The nurses need to overlook as part of the nursing care plan the compliance of the patient to medical regimen, must ensure that the patients avoid extremely cold temperatures.
It is important for patients suffering from the condition to engage in weight reduction activities.
The patients must also have a good regular intake of water and fiber to avoid constipation.
This article highlights important facts about hypothyroidism, it also highlights the nursing care plan for hypothyroidism.
The nursing care plan incorporates nursing assessment, it includes diagnosis, planning and goals, nursing interventions.
The article provides useful insight into the nursing care plan for hypothyroidism in pregnancy.
This blog illustrates in great depth the tips that the nursing-professional needs to do so that the patients suffering from the condition get the best care.
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