Nursing Diagnosis for Bowel Resection With Anastomosis

A bowel resection is a medical diagnosis that requires surgical removal of part of the bowel. Anastomosis is the reconnection of the ends of the remaining bowel. A bowel resection with anastomosis is commonly done for cancerous or precancerous conditions. The term "nursing diagnosis," on the other hand, refers to standardized nursing language developed by NANDA, an organization for nurses, to allow nurses to identify patient issues in a way that can be consistently communicated across clinical settings. Registered nurses cannot make medical diagnoses, but they do make nursing diagnoses.

Preoperative Nursing Diagnoses

• A bowel resection, whether it involves the small or large intestine, is a major surgical procedure. A nurse who teaches her patient before the operation is addressing the patient's inadequate information about the procedure. She might also decide to note a nursing diagnosis of anxiety or even anxiety about death after she assesses the patient's concerns about the upcoming procedure.

Nursing Diagnoses in Operating Room

• An operating room nurse is responsible for ensuring the safety of the patient, so the nurse might employ diagnoses to determine perioperative positioning injury, latex allergy response, aspiration, skin integrity, contamination and thermoregulation. Because the patient will be sedated with anesthesia, the nurse might make a nursing diagnosis of the patient's communication ability. If it's low, the nurse then might serve as the patient's advocate until the patient regains consciousness.

Nursing Diagnoses in PACU

• The post-anesthesia care unit or PACU, formerly known as the recovery room, provides intensive nursing care for a patient as she recovers from the effects of anesthesia in the immediate postoperative period. A PACU nursing caring for her patient after a bowel resection might use nursing diagnoses to determine the level of nausea, spontaneous ventilation, surgical recovery, confusion and pain.

Postoperative Nursing Diagnoses

• Once the patient is transferred to an inpatient hospital unit, the postoperative nurse will identify nursing diagnoses related to recovery from the surgical procedure. These might include the risk for falls, the volume of fluid, nutritional needs, risk of infection and constipation. He may also select nursing diagnoses specific to other medical conditions such as blood glucose if the patient has diabetes.

Home Care Nursing Diagnoses

• While most patients are able to care for themselves at home after a bowel resection, others who are elderly, disabled or with co-morbid health problems may require skilled nursing care after discharge. A home care nurse can focus on nursing diagnoses that involve health behavior, home maintenance, fatigue, family processes, noncompliance with dressing changes, constipation, pain, nausea, walking and infection.