Peanut Allergy: Teaching Plan for Child With Anaphylaxis Reaction

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Beliefs and Practices Relating to the Case Study
A Teaching Plan for the 11 Year Old Boy
Goals and Objectives of the Teaching Plan
Summary
References

Introduction

Peanut allergies are common in children who are 14 years and below; one of the peanut allergies that are known to be very severe is anaphylaxis. This case involves an11-year old boy who showed symptoms of anaphylaxis reaction, which is a newly diagnosed peanut allergy. The boy lives with a single parent, the father, who works full time during the day. As a result, the boy is taken care of by the parental grandmother, who helps him with most of his daily needs.

A close examination of the 11-year old boy indicated that he had an anaphylaxis reaction. The boy had noisy breathing, which indicated that he had difficulties in breathing, hoarseness, a weak pulse, nausea, and dizziness. In addition, the boy admitted that he felt tightness in the lungs, had a rapid pulse, felt pain in the abdomen, had swellings on his throat and tongue, and felt like vomiting. With these observations, it was evident that the 11-year old boy had an anaphylaxis reaction.

This paper outlines issues related to anaphylaxis and designs a teaching plan for children with this kind of allergy. The paper addresses various beliefs and practices including family values, cultural, social-emotional, cognitive, and family health among other beliefs. A teaching plan for the child has also been designed with suitable goal and objectives, which can enhance his ability to learn like the other learners without the allergy. Lastly, the essay includes an evaluation of the effectiveness of the teaching plan that has been developed.

Beliefs and Practices Relating to the Case Study

There are several beliefs and practices that surround anaphylaxis in children such as the 11-year old boy in the case study. The first practice involves the cognitive part of diagnosis for anaphylaxis. There are a number of ways through which the reaction can be recognized. The first step is to look at the child’s face, to see if there are swellings on it (Gupta et al., 2008). In this case, the 11-year old boy has swellings on the face, tongue and the lips, which show that he is likely to be diagnosed with the reaction. The second step is to look at the child’s skin to see if there are signs of itching and red coloration (Gupta et al., 2008). The boy in the scenario has hives and keeps on rubbing his skin.

The third step in the cognitive practice involves having a conversation with the child to ascertain if he or she has a sore throat, dry mouth, and difficulty in breathing (Gupta et al., 2008). The 11-year old boy admits having a sore throat and a dry mouth. His voice also sounds horse, which indicates that he has a difficulty in breathing. The last cognitive step involves making a thorough observation on the child to see if he has abdominal pain, sweating, nausea, vomiting, rapid pulse, and dizziness (Rentfro, Hockenberry & McCampbell, 2011). The boy in the case study displays all of the symptoms except a rapid pulse.

Social-emotional practices involved in anaphylaxis include the mindfulness and deep-seated reception that the family members give to the child with the reaction. This is evident in the key scenario in which the grandmother of the 11-year old boy struggles to ensure that he is attended to even when the father is away at work. The warm treatment from the family is good for such allergic reactions as it assists the children with peanut allergy to gain some sense of philosophical humor and become comfortable with their surroundings (Gupta et al., 2008).

Anaphylaxis if not taken care of at an early stage is known to develop into other serious conditions such as shock and breathing difficulties. The chemicals that the patient’s immune system produces during anaphylaxis are the main triggers for the conditions. The conditions develop into complications such as a weak pulse, nausea, and dizziness as noted in the case of the 11-year old boy. Apart from the peanuts in the key scenario, other common triggers of anaphylaxis include latex, insect venom, and certain medications. Since anaphylaxis is known to develop into more serious conditions within a short time, it should be treated as fast as it is diagnosed (Gupta et al., 2008).

There has not been an agreement on the exact causes of peanut allergies, which result in severe anaphylaxis reaction. As a result, different cultures and religions have different beliefs on what causes peanut allergies. Some cultures believe that peanut allergy may be caused by maternal exposure to peanuts when breast-feeding or even during pregnancy. Other cultures believe that children develop peanut allergies when they are exposed to soy products or soy milk (Rentfro, Hockenberry, & McCampbell, 2011). There are also some individuals who believe that children develop peanut allergies when they are introduced to the foodstuffs at very late stages of their lives (Gupta et al., 2008).

Family health and values are equally believed to cause peanut allergies to children, especially at tender ages. It becomes difficult to detect whether a child is allergic to peanuts until they are introduced to peanuts and they develop allergic antibodies, which may lead to anaphylaxis as observed in the case of the 11-year old boy (Gupta et al., 2008). The boy in the case study might have inherited the allergy from one of his family members, such as his mother.

A Teaching Plan for the 11 Year Old Boy

The teaching plan outlines the steps and measures that the boy, his grandmother, father and teachers need to take to ensure safety of the boy at all times. The first step involves the 11-year old who should be made to understand that he has a peanut allergy. Since at his age he is capable of understanding life’s situations, he should be told directly that he suffers from peanut allergy and consequently, he is supposed to only eat approved foods. He should be trained to keep himself clean and wash his hands before and after every meal. The boy should also be given tools such as simple MedicAlert bracelet, which he is supposed to wear constantly as it will help to protect him at home or at school (Moneret-Vauntrin et al., 2008).

The next step in the teaching plan will involve the grandmother as she is the one who takes care of the boy most of the times. The grandmother should be taught the signs and symptoms of the peanut allergy for which the boy has. This will help the grandmother to detect when the boy develops anaphylaxis at the earliest time possible to prevent the reaction from developing into a severe stage (Moneret-Vauntrin et al., 2008).

The third general step in the teaching plan involves training the school staff in the school where the boy goes to. Training the staff is equally very important as the staff will ensure that the boy is kept away from peanuts and their products when at school. The training should be done on the boy’s class teacher, cafeteria attendants, bus drivers and other staff members who are responsible for students’ welfare. The major areas that ought to be incorporated into the training program include how the boy reacts to peanut exposure, overview of the boy’s emergency plan, how to execute the emergency response plan, and the general overview of peanut allergies (Rentfro, Hockenberry, & McCampbell, 2011).

Lastly, all the strategies and steps followed during an emergency should be put on a well-written plan. The written plan should consist of the steps to be taken whenever the boy develops an allergic reaction. The first intervention should clearly show the order and doses that are supposed to be administered to the boy. The written plan should then be given to the boy’s grandmother, his father and teachers (Moneret-Vauntrin et al., 2008).

Goals and Objectives of the Teaching Plan

The main goal of the teaching plan designed above is to develop an outline for effectively managing peanut allergy for the 11-year old boy. To ensure that the plan achieves the main goal, the plan has been developed in such a way that it promotes healthy living and self-care for the boy, besides helping to restore his health. Since the plan involves the boy and the grandmother; it educates the two of them on the strategies of improving the boy’s health status in relation to the allergy and anaphylaxis (Moneret-Vauntrin et al., 2008).

The objectives like the goal of the teaching plan are designed to assist the boy to realize a healthy living but in a specific manner. The first objective is to encourage an in-depth understanding and recognition of the symptoms of peanut allergy. The second objective is to teach the boy, his grandmother and his teachers the steps to take to save the boy in case the allergy attacks him. The objectives help to determine whether the boy, the grandmother and the teachers have understood the contents of the teaching plan (Moneret-Vauntrin et al., 2008).

Summary

Peanut allergies have become so common, especially in children of less than 14 years. Anaphylaxis is one of the most serious complications that are related to peanut allergy and which are considered life-threatening. The paper has outlined signs and symptoms and remedies for the case of the 11 year-boy described in the case study. The most effective way to evaluate whether the boy, the family and the teachers have learned will be to see how frequent the boy experiences the allergy. If the boy does not experience the allergy again, then it will be clear they learned the concepts of the plan. If the 11 year old boy, the family and the teachers fail to meet the goals of the plan, new targets and objectives will be designed. The plan will be redesigned to include more complex measures and steps to ensure that they learn the necessary concepts relating to the allergy.

References

Gupta, R. S., Kim, J. S., Barnathan, J. A., Amsden, L. B., Tummala, L. S., & Holl, J. L. (2008). Food allergy knowledge, attitudes and beliefs: Focus groups of parents, physicians and the general public. BMC Pediatric, 8(36), 567-582.

Moneret-Vauntrin, D. A., Kanny, G., Morisset, M., Flabbee, J., Guenard, L., Beaudouin, E., Parisot, L. (2008). Food anaphylaxis in schools: Evaluation of the management plan and the efficiency of the emergency kit. European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 56(11), 1071-1076.

Rentfro, A. R., Hockenberry, M. J., & McCampbell, L. S. (2011). Study guide for Wong’s nursing care of infants and children (9^th ed.). London: Elsevier Mosby.

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