Nursing Diagnosis Impaired Skin Integrity
Impaired skin integrity is a condition where the skin has been damaged in some way and cannot perform its normal functions. The goal of nursing care is to prevent further damage, promote healing and help patients manage pain. The following care plans have been developed to assist you with effective nursing care for individuals who are experiencing impaired skin integrity.
Nursing Diagnosis Impaired Skin Integrity
1 Introduction
A nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgment that identifies the patient’s actual or potential problems and recommends interventions to address those problems. It is based on the patient’s subjective reports, objective findings, and health-related diagnoses made by the nurse.
A risk factor is something that increases your chances of getting a disease or condition. Risk factors include age, gender, family history of certain diseases, lifestyle choices (such as smoking), and environmental exposures (such as radon).
2 Definition
Impaired skin integrity is the inability of the skin to maintain its barrier function and prevent loss of fluids and electrolytes, resulting in effects such as moisture loss, irritation, and infection.
3 Risk Factors
Risk factors for impaired skin integrity include:
- Skin breakdown
- Skin irritation
- Skin infection
- Skin ulceration
- Skin injury (a wound that breaks the skin barrier)
- Loss of skin (loss of tissue or covering) due to disease, trauma, burns, surgery or other causes. This can also be called loss of tissue or covering.>Skin necrosis is a condition where the skin becomes dead.>Skin cancer is a malignant tumor that develops in the tissues of the epidermis or dermis and may spread to other parts of your body.Skin disease refers to any diseases that affect your skin’s health. Some examples are eczema and psoriasis. Inflammation is swelling caused by changes inside your body’s tissues.
4 Nursing Care Plan with Diagnosis
As we have seen, the proper care plan can help you overcome this nursing diagnosis. The first step is to recognize if the skin problem is part of your personal hygiene or if it is due to a medical condition such as eczema or psoriasis. If it is a medical condition, it will need to be treated by a dermatologist or other physician specializing in dermatology.
In addition to identifying the cause of your skin problem and following treatment instructions from your doctor, there are measures you can take at home that can improve Impaired Skin Integrity:
- Wear cotton clothing next-to-skin instead of synthetics like nylon or polyester
- Don’t wear tight clothing because they put pressure on the skin and may worsen eczema flares
5 Interventions and Rationales
The following interventions and rationales may be used to treat or prevent impaired skin integrity.
- Use of skin protectants: To protect the skin from further moisture loss, reduce trauma, prevent infection, and maintain or improve patient comfort.
- Use of skin moisturizers: To improve the quality and appearance of the affected area by reducing flaking, scaling, or cracking (eg, oils); increasing water content (eg, hyaluronic acid); promoting collagen synthesis; improving stratum corneum barrier function; restoring the structural integrity of lipid lamellae; maintaining homeostasis by preventing irritant-induced irritation responses; increasing epidermal thickness; decreasing xerosis on an area where it has been previously burned off due to radiation therapy for cancer treatment—skin lotions
6 Proper care plan can help you overcome Impaired Skin Integrity.
- Review the medical history of the patient.
- Examine the skin and examine whether it has any lesions, rashes or other abnormalities. Skin integrity refers to the condition of your skin and whether it is intact or damaged in some way. If you notice any injuries or open sores on your skin, this may be a sign that your skin integrity is impaired. A variety of factors can contribute to impaired skin integrity, including:
- -Infection
- -Allergic reactions
- -Physical trauma
Closing
Skin integrity is an important part of nursing care. It is a vital component to the overall well-being of patients and should be monitored closely by nurses and other health care providers. Skin integrity can be affected by a variety of factors, but most commonly from pressure ulcers or burns. This article provides valuable information about impaired skin integrity, including risk factors for this condition as well as nursing interventions that can help prevent further complications from occurring in patients with impaired skin integrity.