NURSING CARE

Nursing care of patients with Hepatitis C positive

Introduction2

Literature review2

What is it?3

What families belong to this virus?3

HCV Genome4

Where does it live?4

How Hepatitis C virus grows?5

Transmission of Hepatitis6

What dose to patient this virus in the liver?7

Signs and Symptoms of Hepatitis C8

Acute Phase8

Chronic Phase9

General Management for Nurses9

Vaccination9

Prevention10

Critical analysis11

Medical intervention and the Treatment12

Conclusion13

Nursing care of patients with Hepatitis C positive

Introduction

Nurses have an integral role in the management, intervention, care, and control of people affected by Hepatitis C. It is a ribonucleic acid (RNA) virus that belongs to the flavivirus family. It is the obligation of nurses to educate about causes and prevention of disease. This assignment provides a comprehensive outlook on the nursing interventions for patients that are suffering from hepatitis C positive (Angello et al., 1999, pp. 12766-12771). The first section briefs about the virus and nursing care. The next section reviewed literature on hepatitis C its epidemiology that includes which family does the virus belongs, where, and how does it grow. This section also discusses about transmission of hepatitis and the intensity of this virus in the liver. The following section explains about the signs and symptoms, vaccination, prevention methods, role of nurses, critical analysis, and medical intervention for the treatment of hepatitis C. In general, it presents testing and diagnosis, lifestyle, psychosocial factors, resources, and support services during treatment.

Literature review

Hepatitis C is a very widespread and common disease. The development from infection with the virus to cirrhosis, fibrosis, and cancer takes years to develop, and many cases are undiagnosed. The number of patients that require treatment and diagnosis for hepatitis C will increase with the aging of population (Davis, Alter, El-Serag, Poynard, & Jennings, 2010, pp. 513-521). Nurses need to understand the prognosis and treatment of this disease today and in years to come.

This virus has been in existence for a longer period of time. It was not identified and isolated until the year 1989 (Alter, 2011, pp. 340-346). Those cases of hepatitis that were not identified were not diagnosed as hepatitis A virus or hepatitis B virus were identified as non-A and non-B hepatitis. Such classification was before the identification of hepatitis C virus. Since its identification, effective treatments have been developed through a blood test screening supplies that has reduced the transmission risks of transfusion of virus. Infections and diseases through hepatitis C are still a great causer of morbidity even after these developments (Alter, 2011).

What is it?

Hepatitis C is a highly infectious blood borne disease and causes a form of liver inflammation. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) possess six major genotypes i.e. types 1-6 which includes subtypes a-e (Major et al., 2001, pp. 1127-1161).

Acute hepatitis C shows the first six months of infection which is self resolving in almost of 20% of cases without granting permanent immunity. The large proportion of infected individuals is not aware about the positive status of HCV (hepatitis C virus). The absence of disease specific symptoms can progress to develop chronic symptoms of ...