Treatments

Treatment

Sickle cell disease has no cure, as it is a genetic blood disorder. However there are some treatments that help to eliminate complications and episodes of pain. Treatments for pain include mild analgesics, oxygen therapy, and hydration. Often servere pain requires hospitalization and opioid analgesics.

Severe cases of sickle cell can be treated with hydroxyurea. This medication was originally used as a cancer drug, but has shown results in other patients. Hydroxyurea interrupts DNA synthesis, and essentially stimulates the body to produce more fetal hemoglobin. This is beneficial to sickle cell patients because it increases the amount of normal hemoglobin in the body, decreasing complications associated with the abnormal hemoglobin and abnormal cell shape.

Additional treatments are necessary to prevent and treat infections. Some patients require a daily dose of antibiotics as a preventative measure. Additional prevention measures are flu and pneumonia vaccines remaining up to date.  Regular health care appointments with a primary care provider, as well as a specialist is incredibly important for this population.

For more information on treatment check out the sickle cell anemia page on the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Sickle cell basics

Most people have heard about sickle cell, but may not know about the disease process or the implications for patients. In this post I will be sharing this information in the hopes of increasing your knowledge about sickle cell disease. Please feel free to leave a comment if there is something more you would like to know about!

To understand sickle cell disease, it is best to start with hemoglobin. For this section I would like to thank Lauren Bongo, a medical technologist at UAB Hospital Blood Bank, for her help simplifying this topic for me.

Hemoglobin is a protein inside of the red blood cells that carries oxygen. It also holds the structural integrity of the red blood cell.  

You receive information from both parents to code your hemoglobin. Remember Punnett squares?Anyone having flashbacks to middle/high school science class?

 There are different types of hemoglobin: A, C, S, as well as codes for the protein chains- alpha, beta, gamma (as you can see in the photo above). Most people have A type, normal hemoglobin from each parent, but others may gain abnormal types from one or both parent. Receiving one abnormal type, such as one A (normal) and one S (abnormal), would make you a carrier. Receiving two abnormal traits (SS) would manifest as disease in the blood stream. The different combinations account for the changes in severity and manifestation of disease.

SS is what we generally think of as true sickle cell disease, as the person is only making abnormal hemoglobin, which alters the cells shape. When the cell is deformed into a sickled shape it can block blood vessels, leading to a lack of oxygen to organs, bones, and other areas in the body. This can lead to severe pain.

Now that you have some background information on the disease my next post will focus on treatment, prevention of crisis, and educational interventions for patients and their families.

In the meantime, here are some quick facts:

• Sickle cell disease is a genetic blood disorder that damages and deforms red blood cells.
•  Around 1 in 650 births will be affected with sickle cell disease.
• About 1 in 12 African Americans carry Sickle Cell trait.
• Sickle cell disease encompasses several disorders and abnormal patterns of hemoglobin. This accounts for the variation in severity and treatment.
• African Americans have a higher rate of sickle cell disease, however those of Mediterranean descent have higher rates of beta thalassemia (a blood disorder similar to sickle cell.)
• Sickle cell complications include: acute pain, infection, neurological complications, acute chest syndrome, stroke, heart disease, renal complications, and others.

If you would like more information you can go the following website through PubMed health. It has some fantastic information on the disease.

Thanks!

Goals and Objectives

Hello! I just wanted to post my goals and objectives. It helps give an outline of my project, and the tasks I am hoping to accomplish this summer.

Goal #1: Enhance academic learning.

¤Objectives:

Review sickle cell literature, including information about the disease process and age specific changes.

Learn about health education and promotion techniques specific to adolescents including learning styles.

Develop glossary for 11-12 year olds with sickle cell disease.

                  Lead an educational session.
                  Research health literacy.
                  Develop comprehensive pretest/posttest for NEXT step booklet. 

 Goal #2 Enhance civic learning.

¤Objectives:

Understand the needs of the patients with sickle cell in the community.

Research the community need for educational programs specific to sickle cell and age group.

                  Understand how nursing and public health can empower the patient population.

Goal #3: Provide meaningful community service.

¤Objectives:

Attend a meeting with the sickle cell foundation.

Participate with Kristen at Children's Hospital sickle cell clinic.

Help with the traveling clinic that takes sickle cell experts to patients in the surrounding areas.

                 

Welcome!

Hello all!

My name is Meghan and I am currently a nursing student at The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing. I was selected to be part of the wonderful Honors in Nursing Program. The program covers a series of three semesters and is based upon service learning as well as research. Service learning incorporates three areas: civic engagement, academic learning, and community service.

For my project I have partnered with Children's Hospital. My mentor is a pediatric nurse practitioner, Kristen Osborn, who works with sickle cell patients. I will be presenting updates on this blog about my service learning project including my academic progress, and my involvement with the traveling sickle cell clinic. More to come!