Assessment of the neonate

This week, there will be a variety of conditions assigned to you by your instructor pertaining to the neonate, child abuse, child neglect, and environmental health conditions. You are expected to present your initial topic of neonatal jaundice, but not limited to, the following items:

Pathophysiology
Epidemiology
Physical exam findings
Differential diagnoses and rationale
Management plan to include diagnostic testing, medications if applicable, follow-up plans and referrals if needed

Please use references from 2013- present and if using journal articles, please include the doi.

SAMPLE SOLUTION

Assessment of Neonate
Pathophysiology
Neonatal jaundice is occasioned by the simultaneous manifestation of two key phenomena. One, bilirubin production is increased due to the elevated breakdown of fetal erythrocytes, which is the outcome of the abridged lifetime of fetal erythrocytes as well as the higher erythrocyte mass in neonates. Two, low functioning of glucuronyl transferase and low concentrations of ligandin within the hepatocytes occasions low hepatic excretory capacity. Glucuronyl transferase facilitates the binding of bilirubin to glucuronic acid which makes bilirubin water soluble (Scrafford et al., 2013).
Epidemiology
About 50 percent of term newborns in the United States and 80 percent of preterm infants tend to suffer from jaundice within the first four days of life. Most newborns develop an unconjugated serum bilirubin level greater than 1.8mg/dl in the…