Discussion: Infectious Diseases in Children

Discussion: Infectious Diseases in Children

Week 9 discussion

The discussion assignment provides a forum for discussing relevant topics for this week on the basis of the course competencies covered.

For this assignment, make sure you post your initial response to the Discussion Area by Saturday, September 23, 2017.

To support your work, use your course and textbook readings and the South University Online Library. As in all assignments, cite your sources in your work and provide references for the citations in APA format.

Start reviewing and responding to the postings of your classmates as early in the week as possible. Respond to at least two of your classmates’ initial postings. Participate in the discussion by asking a question, providing a statement of clarification, providing a point of view with a rationale, challenging an aspect of the discussion, or indicating a relationship between two or more lines of reasoning in the discussion. Cite sources in your responses to your classmates. Complete your participation for this assignment by Wednesday, September 27, 2017.

Using your course and textbook readings and the South University Online Library, perform research on the following:

Assessment, diagnostic testing, and management of infectious conditions in a pediatric patient

Differential diagnoses for presentation of symptoms involving infectious diseases in pediatric patients

After completing your research, consider this scenario:

An eighteen-month-old child, well-known to your practice, presents with a seven-day history of fever ranging from 101 to 104.7 degrees Fahrenheit. On the fourth day of the fever, the emergency department had performed the following tests:

A blood and urine culture

A complete blood count

A comprehensive metabolic panel

The culture reports were found to be negative.

Today, the vitals of the child are the following:

Temperature: 101.5 degrees Fahrenheit

Heart rate: 120 beats/minute

Respiratory rate: 20 breaths/minute

Blood pressure: 90/40

Physical examination of the child indicates the following positive findings:

Injected conjunctiva

Palmar redness

Magenta-colored lips

Red macula

Excoriating rashes in the diaper area

On the basis of the above information, respond to the following:

What will be your differential diagnoses for this patient?

What specific physical exam findings support these differential diagnoses?

Of the differential diagnoses you listed, which would be the most concerning?

What additional diagnostic tests will you recommend? Why?

What would be your focus for caregiver education?