Reference no: EM133272460

Assignment:

Your patient has been in labor for 5 hours. Her blood pressure had been stable, averaging 130/80 when assessed between contractions and the FHR pattern consistently exhibited criteria of a reassuring pattern. A lumbar epidural block was initiated. Shortly afterward during assessment of maternal vital signs and FHR, your patient's blood pressure decreased to 102/60 and the FHR pattern began to exhibit a decrease in rate and variability. Provide a rationale and reference for each response.

1. State what your patient is experiencing. Support your answer and explain the physiologic basis for what is happening.

2. Write a nursing diagnosis and related intervention that reflects what is currently taking place with this patient.

3. What are your immediate nursing actions and why?

4. Your other patient is a primigravida, who has elected for a continuous epidural block as her pharmacologic method of choice during childbirth. Provide a rationale and reference for each response.

5. Identify the assessment that should be used to determine her readiness for the initiation of the epidural block.

6. Describe the preparation methods that should be implemented and why?

7. Describe two positions you could help her assume for the induction of the epidural block and why?

8. Outline the nursing care management interventions recommended while this patient is receiving the anesthesia to ensure her well-being and that of her fetus.