Caring for the Patient With Limited Systemic Scleroderma.

Systemic scleroderma (systemic sclerosis) is a rare, autoimmune, collagen-vascular disease of unknown etiology that affects the connective tissues of the skin, internal organs, as well as the small blood vessels. There are 3 subclasses of systemic scleroderma: limited cutaneous, diffuse cutaneous, and sine scleroderma. Prognosis depends on the extent of organ involvement. Complications of systemic scleroderma can involve the cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, renal, integumentary, and the skeletal-muscular systems. Because systemic scleroderma is not common, many orthopaedic nurses may be unfamiliar with how to best provide care. This article provides information about the complexity of the different types of this disease and the basic nursing care of the patient with the most common subclass of systemic scleroderma, limited cutaneous systemic scleroderma.

Nursing problems of patients with systemic sclerosis.

UNLABELLED: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a chronic autoimmune disease connective tissue and one of the most common collagen diseases. There are several clinical types of scleroderma which differ in their course, possible complications and prognosis. The most characteristic form SSc is limited and diffuse systemic sclerosis. The SSc is characterized by the progressive fibrosis of the skin and internal organs, leading to their failure, morphology and blood vessels disorders. PURPOSE: The aim of our work is to identify the main health problems of patients suffering from systemic sclerosis depending on its clinical form: limited systemic sclerosis (ISSc) and diffuse systemic sclerosis (dSSc); to determine the influence of disease duration on symptom intensification in patients with LSSc and dSSc. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study group consisted of 63 patients with systemic sclerosis diagnosed according to the criteria of the American Rheumatism Association (ARA), 47 of whom had limited systemic sclerosis (ISSc) (74.6%) and 16--diffuse systemic sclerosis (dSSc) (25.4%). CONCLUSIONS: The key thing in the complex therapy is to recognize the individual care problems of the patient, to assess his ability to cope with the disease in daily life and to plan care, support, education and help of other professionals. The main aim of individual nursing care is to alleviate ailments, prevent infections, observe life-threatening conditions and to educate the patient as regards self-care and self-observation.