Sabrina Jackson: A Young Adult with Cerebral Palsy

Price (includes one year of access and CE):  US$8 Course Code: 7SENNF-PRV-09-ddn13s06 CE: 1.00 Hours. Post Test Score Required for Successful Completion: 80%

Course Overview:

This case scenario involves a young woman with moderate athetoid cerebral palsy who has abdominal pain and seeks treatment in an emergency department (ED). After describing how the woman ordinarily manages the effects of mobility and speech limitations in her daily life, the case scenario presents the barriers to communication and mobility that the woman encounters when she arrives in the ED with her college roommate. The case scenario compares and contrasts appropriate and inappropriate staff responses to the woman's dysarthria as she communicates her needs. It also demonstrates how a respectful partnership between the woman and the nurse fosters a problem-solving approach as they adapt the usual ED diagnostic and treatment process to meet the woman's needs for accommodations. Throughout the case scenario, there is an emphasis on removing barriers to health care in the ED.

Course Objectives:

After completion of this learning activity, the learner will be able to:

• describe some of the physical characteristics of a young adult affected by cerebral palsy.
• describe the partnership triad among the nurse, the young adult with cerebral palsy, and her roommate.
• describe elements of human caring that support the woman as a person who is living with the condition of cerebral palsy.
• describe nursing interventions that maximize the woman's independence and contribute to a healing environment throughout her stay in the emergency department.
• identify nursing responses that appropriately support and facilitate the woman's expression of emotions, fears, and concerns.

This courseware was made possible in part by grant number R43 NR04738-03 from the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors.

Copyright© 2007 by HealthSoft, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

HealthSoft, Inc. is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the New York State Nurses Association, an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation.

It has been assigned code 7SENNF-PRV-09.

This course is updated annually. Expiration date: 5/1/11

The faculty and planners of this course have no vested interests to disclose.

This course has received no commercial support.