C Difficile Infection: A Case Study

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Question 1.
Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is a Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium that is usually transmitted via staff hands or by direct contact with affected patients, contaminated fomites (Surawicz et al. 2013). C. difficile infection (CDI) is one of the common causes of antibiotic associated diarrhoea in hospitals (Surawicz et al. 2013). This is because the decline in health status of hospitalised patients and the close contact between them caused by staying in the same contaminated environment often encourage bacterial colonisation, the development of infection and the spread of bacterial spores (Mitchell, Russo & Race 2014). Patients can be asymptomatic carriers of C. difficile and elderly people are more susceptible to the bacteria than young people (Mitchell, Russo & Race 2014). The two main risk factors of CDI include exposure to the organism and exposure to antibiotics (Surawicz et al. 2013).
Most antibiotics reduce the normal microbiota of the body, which are then …show more content…

If left untreated, a urinary tract infection (UTI) can result in serious outcomes (Mayo Clinic 2015). These serious consequences might include recurrence of infections, permanent kidney impairment from a kidney infection due to untreated UTIs (Mayo Clinic 2015). Recurrent infections in the urethra can cause urethral narrowing in men (Mayo Clinic 2015). In addition, sepsis, which is a life-threatening condition of an infection, might occur if the infection travels up the urinary tract to the kidneys (Mayo Clinic 2015).

Question 8.
(i) One of the nursing goals is to reduce voiding interval from less than 2 hours to 2 to 5 hours to alleviate fatigue and distress caused by frequent urination. This is because normal voiding interval would be a minimum of 2 hours, which is common in elderly people, and 3 to 5 hours for other people (Castillo 2014).
(ii) Another nursing goal is to reduce pain on voiding.

Question 9.
Nursing Goal (stated above in Q8) Nursing

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