Nursing Care in Fever: Assessment and Implementation

Abstract

Nursing care of a febrile patient should be guided by a theoretical framework and scientific knowledge. The aim of this study was to describe nurses' assessment and implementation strategies for adult, febrile patients. Eight nurses and four physicians from four different clinics were interviewed. The clinics were neurosurgery intensive care, intensive care, surgery and geriatric rehabilitation. An interview guide with themes theoretical knowledge and personal opinion about fever, assessment of patient needs, implementation of nursing care and methods for monitoring body temperature, constituted the framework for the interviews. The data was analysed by content analysis. The results showed that traditional methods of lowering elevated temperature, and fever regarded as synonymous to elevated body temperature and an expression of a negative process, still had great influence in nursing care. The basic approach for assessment and implementation of nursing care in fever seemed to be based on tradition and routines within each clinic, and personal beliefs. The conclusion is that methods of lowering elevated temperature, when necessary, have to be questioned, and carried out in a way which prevents shivering. The assessment of measuring body temperature ought to be studied more in relation to age and place of measurement.