Nursing Interventions: Gonorrhea

1. Use standard precautions when obtaining specimens for laboratory examination and when caring for the patient.
2. Isolate the patient with an eye infection.
3. If the patient has gonococcal arthritis, apply moist heat to ease the pain in the affected joints.
4. Before treatment, determine if the patient has any drug sensitivities.
5. Monitor the patient for complications.
6. Tell the patient that until cultures prove negative, he’s still infectious and should avoid unprotected sexual contact.
7. Urge the patient to inform his sexual partners of his infection so that they can seek treatment.
8. Advise the partner of an infected person to receive treatment even if she doesn’t have positive cultures.
9. Counsel the patient and his sexual partners to be tested for human immunodeficiency virus and hepatitis B infection.
10. Instruct the patient to be careful when coming in contact with his bodily discharges so that he doesn’t contaminate his eyes.
11. Tell the patient to take anti-infective drugs for the length of time prescribed.
12. To prevent reinfection, tell the patient to avoid sexual contact with anyone suspected of being infected, to use condoms during intercourse, to wash genitalia with soap and water before and after intercourse.