Nursing Interventions: Gout
- Give pain medication as needed especially during acute attacks.
- Apply cold packs to inflamed joints to ease discomfort and reduce swelling.
- Administer anti-inflammatory medication and other drugs, as ordered.
- To promote sleep, administer pain medication at times that allow maximum rest.
- Encourage bed rest, but use a bed cradle to keep bed linens off sensitive, in inflamed joints.
- Encourage the patient to perform techniques that promote rest and relaxation.
- Provide nutritious diet. Avoid purine rich foods.
- Before and after surgery, administer colchicines to help prevent gout attacks as ordered.
- Urge the patient to perform as much self-care as his immobility and pain allow.
- Urge the patient to drink plenty if fluids 2 liters per day to prevent renal calculi.
- Discuss the principles of gradual weight reduction with an obese patient.
- Urge the patient to control hypertension, especially if he has tophaceous renal deposits.
- Provide emotional support during diagnostic test and procedures.