This post will cover nurses observance and part 1 of 3 of parent website recommendations
Nurses will have to keep a sharp eye on high risk neonates when working in any neonatal or pediatric unit. Sometimes the signs of hydrocephalus occurrence will not present until weeks or months later, and of course any child or infant who suffers head trauma will be at risk for developing increased ICP. As such nurses should remain vigilant and be aware of what the signs and symptoms may be pointing towards.
We have already discussed the signs and symptoms in an earlier post, so refer to that if you want specifics, but the major one for neonates is any increase in cerebral circumference, distension of the cerebral veins, or bulging or distended fontanels.
Now for website recommendations. Here are a couple with information regarding Hydrocephalus itself.
The first will be the Fact sheet from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. (2016) Hydrocephalus Fact Sheet. retrieved from: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/hydrocephalus/detail_hydrocephalus.htm
This will give you a comprehensive overview of the information regarding hydrocephalus as a whole. Read this if you want factual information from a medical source. You can contact their board for more information or with any questions.
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The second recommendation is the Hydrocephalus Association.
This website offers information as well as support groups for those suffering from or caring for someone with hydrocephalus. This website will be explored further in a future post as well when I cover website recommendations for support groups.
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Thirdly we can look at this wonderful article from the American Association of Neurological Surgeons.
The AANS website discuss the basic information about HC but also goes into some detail regarding surgery options, treatment, recovery, and prognosis. It is a patient focused site that should help answer some questions that parents may be having.
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Last recommendation for this post. Medicinenet is a website that offers a look at hydrocephalus that is a a bit less medical and still gives you a lot of information over several pages that may be easier to digest. It can be viewed here.
Take a look there if you want a bit simpler look at the whole picture of HC.
That raps up this post! Thanks so much for reading this far if you have made it, and I have not bored you to death yet. Next post will touch a bit on some helpful tools for parents (hopefully) and then we will look towards rapping this whole thing up in the next couple of posts!
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