Pneumonia: Signs and Symptoms (Pediatric Nursing)

00:01 So classic signs and symptoms of pneumonia.

00:03 Your patient will have a fever, a cough, they'll be really tired, and they may have chest pain.

00:10 This is different from cardiac chest pain.

00:12 This chest pain's typically when the patient, takes a big deep breath.

00:17 And coincidentally, patients can actually sometimes localize their pneumonia.

00:21 I will have patients come in and they'll say, "Man, it just, you know, hurts right here," and they'll point to a very specific spot on their chest.

00:27 And we'll end up listening and doing a chest X-ray and, more often than not, they are able to localize their pneumonia.

00:35 Signs and symptoms of pneumonia in pediatric populations vary based on the patient's age.

00:40 In neonates, so < 28 day olds, pneumonia can be fairly insidious or sneaky.

00:45 You really need to have your radar on for these patients.

00:49 These young babies can present with a fever or their temperature may actually be lower than normal.

00:54 This may be the only clue that this baby has pneumonia.

00:58 There may not be any other abnormal physical findings.

01:01 So, as a clinician, you need to have a very low threshold to evaluate babies for pneumonia because they can hide all of the obvious signs including cough, and they are at a major risk for increased complications.

01:14 In infants and children, typical symptoms of viral or bacterial pneumonia should be present.

01:20 But when a child is sick, it's hard to tell whether an infection is viral or bacterial, just based on the signs and symptoms alone because they manifest in the same way.

01:30 So, classic signs and symptoms in children.

01:33 Fever and chills, tachypnea - where they have an increased respiratory rate - a cough, malaise - they're just going to be, you know, kind of sluggish, not feeling so good.

01:44 Pleuritic chest pain, and this is where they take a big deep breath in and they feel the pain in their lungs when they breathe deeply.

01:51 Retractions, and this is where the chest wall is pulling in with every breath, and apprehension.

01:57 Because they have difficulty breathing and shortness of breath, these children really can't relax.