Coordinating the complex care for the pregnant woman with CF involves an interprofessional team of healthcare providers to encourage and promote optimal health and well-being throughout pregnancy, as the disease state varies depending on several factors, including genetics and pre-pregnancy clinical course. Management of the pregnant woman with CF requires careful attention given during the ante, intra, and postpartum periods to pulmonary health care, medication administration, nutrition care and gastrointestinal health, surveillance and treatment of diabetes, if present, as well as psychosocial issues. Therefore, it is crucial for inpatient bedside maternity nurses to have a solid understanding of the CF disease process to facilitate the delivery of individualized nursing care to the pregnant woman with CF. The purpose of this case report is to present an overview of nursing care required for the pregnant woman with CF as well as the patient’s perspective of pregnancy and nursing care while managing CF.
Methods:
A case report and semi-structured interview are presented.
Results:
Not applicable for a case report.
Conclusion:
There is an increasing trend of women with CF becoming pregnant (CFF, 2016) and as such, these women will require multifaceted care provided by an interprofessional healthcare team. A preplanned pregnancy with optimal nutrition and lung function is ideal with regular review of the woman’s nutritional status and lung function throughout the pregnancy as essential to promote positive outcomes for the mother and fetus.
This case report described the pregnancy progression, required care of a woman with CF, as well as the woman’s perspective of nursing care during this experience. This was a planned pregnancy; the woman began the pregnancy with severe obstructive lung disease and marginal nutritional status. The woman endured a few pulmonary exacerbations of the disease requiring hospitalization and despite failing pulmonary health, was able to deliver a healthy infant. With knowledge of CF, maternity nurses should be able to anticipate the potential needs of these women based on their lung function and nutritional status. This would enable them to provide the necessary care to achieve positive outcomes for the mother and fetus before, during, and after delivery.