Nursing Diagnoses for MRSA

If you're a nurse, or nursing student, you may want to look at nursing diagnoses as part of a care plan for a patient. A nursing diagnosis is defined by NANDA International, Inc. (a nursing diagnosis association that has expanded globally) as a way to "define the knowledge of professional nursing". It is used to guide care and standardize language and the work of nurses across the world. 

A MRSA infection may present in many different forms. It could be a small red bump, a boil, cellulitis (infection of a deeper layer of skin), an abscess, or even sepsis (a bloodstream infection). Therefor, nursing care depends on what degree of a MRSA infection you're treating. Below are some examples of possible nursing diagnoses for the various degrees of a MRSA infection, or even for educating patients on prevention from getting a MRSA infection.  

Sample Nursing Diagnoses

1.) Impaired skin integrity related to skin infection 

2.) Risk for shock related to infection 

3.) Acute pain related to infection 

4.) Impaired tissue integrity related to insufficient knowledge about protecting tissue integrity

5.) Risk for imbalanced body temperature related to infection 

6.) Readiness for enhanced health management related to expressed desire to enhance management of risk factors 

7.) Ineffective protection related to noncompliance with treatment regimen

Let's take a deeper look into one of these diagnoses- Risk for shock related to infection- and go into more detail. The table below asks the question in the left hand column and answers it for this diagnosis in the right hand column.  

Actual or potential	Potential
Related to	Infection
Plan	Assess for signs and symptoms of septic shock; if signs and symptoms occur maintain IV therapy, administer antibiotics if ordered, maintain oxygen therapy, etc.
Outcome	Desired- the patient will not develop septic shock
Nursing intervention	Assess vitals, skin, pulses. Administer medications as prescribed. Properly dress skin infection to help contain the infection.

This is just a sample of some parts of a plan and interventions. For more extensive information on this nursing diagnosis, or the others, take a look at this website Elsevier Health

Resources: 

EHS: Nursing Diagnosis Care Plans, 4/e - Care Plan Index. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2015, from http://www1.us.elsevierhealth.com/MERLIN/Gulanick/archive/Constructor/cpindex.html  

About Our Name. (n.d.). Retrieved May 20, 2015, from http://www.nanda.org/nanda-international-about-our-name.html