1- What are the implications of being exposed to a patient with scarlet fever?
2- What nursing actions should the nurse perform to prevent the spread of infection?
Provide a minimum of two nursing actions
3- What transmission based precautions are most appropriate for this patient? Explain
why.
4- Write an actual nursing diagnosis statement appropriate for this patient and include a
corresponding outcome.
Nursing Diagnosis for a Scarlet Fever Patient
Question 1 Answer
Scarlet fever can often occur as a complication of group A strep bacteria infection, and
there are varied complications that may arise from exposure to patient with scarlet fever (Treas
& Wilkinson, 2014). According to Ralph & Carapetis (2013), the specific implications are
attributed to the contagious nature of scarlet fever. For instance, exposure to a patient with
scarlet fever to can lead to the spread or transfer of the strep A bacteria as a result of the patient
sneezing or coughing. In addition, the bacteria also spread to surfaces or objects in contact with
the patient meaning that exposure to such surfaces and objects that are contaminated and
subsequent touching of the nose or mouth can spread the bacteria (Ralph & Carapetis, 2013).
SCARLET FEVER DIAGNOSIS 2
Question 2 Answer
The nurse can perform a number of actions to prevent spread of the infection, with the
aim of abating contamination of surfaces and objects. For example, two specific nursing actions
that can achieve this include frequent washing of hands after handling the patient as well as
conducting frequent and thorough disinfection of the surfaces and objects that come into contact
with the patient (Treas & Wilkinson, 2014).
Question 3 Answer
Considering that scarlet fever is treatable using antibiotics with typically good outcomes,
further transmission of the spread of the disease by this patient is through treatment of the scarlet
fever using appropriate antibiotics. The other appropriate transmission based interventions for
this patient are avoiding sharing personal items with the patient and ensuring that the patient is
isolated from other people to prevent spread of the disease (Ralph & Carapetis, 2013; Treas &
Wilkinson, 2014).
Question 4 Answer
An actual nursing diagnosis statement for this patient is as follows:
Nursing Diagnoses Include: hyperthermia; acute pain; impaired skin integrity; impaired oral
mucous membrane; impaired swallowing or discomfort while swallowing; and the risk of
infection (Kee, Hayes & McCuistion, 2015).
Expected Outcomes Include: Express of increased comfort feelings or absence of pain;
maintain skin integrity; have mucous membranes that are moist, pink, and without lesions;
SCARLET FEVER DIAGNOSIS 3
remain aferbrile; absence of discomfort while chewing or swallowing; and finally experience no
further infection signs or symptoms (Kee, Hayes & McCuistion, 2015).
SCARLET FEVER DIAGNOSIS 4
References
Kee, J., Hayes, E., & McCuistion, L. (2015). Pharmacology: A nursing process approach (8 th
ed.). Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier.
Ralph, A. P. & Carapetis, J. R. (2013). Group a streptococcal diseases and their global
burden. Current topics in microbiology and immunology, 368(1), 1–27.
Treas, L. & Wilkinson, J, (2014). Basic nursing: concepts, skills & reasoning. Philadelphia, PA:
F. A. Davis, Company.