NCLEX Review & Nursing School

NCLEX Review on Hepatitis

Today we will be talking about one of the most common diseases that you might encounter in the NCLEX which is that of Hepatitis.

Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue its as plain and simple as that
And believe it or not a good portion of the people who has the less severe type of hepatitis will show no symptoms whereas others develop the some of the more common symptoms such as yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes, which what we call jaundice
and this is due to the liver not being able to breakdown and get rid of Bilirubin which as a a yellow pigment that is formed when our bodies breakdown our red blood cells in the liver.

now also other most common symptoms can include:
poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pain, and diarrhea.

Now as we all know Hepatitis may be temporary (acute) or long term (chronic) depending on whether it lasts for less than or more than six months.

Acute hepatitis can sometimes resolve on its own, or progress chronic hepatitis, or if not treated can lead to acute liver failure.

Over time the chronic form may progress to scarring of the liver, liver failure, or liver cancer.

CLASSIFICATIONS of Hepatitis Virus and its way of TRANSMISSION:

Now there are actually 5 types which are hepatitis a b c d and e
but on this quick review we will only be looking at the first three.

(If we look at the transmission: HEPATITIS B AND C are the only ones transmitted through blood and sexual contact).

Hepatitis A (transmitted through oral/fecal/water route)
Hepatitis B (transmitted through blood/drug use/sexual contact/childbirth)
Hepatitis C (transmitted through blood/drug use/sexual contact/childbirth)

HEPATITIS A

– Incubation period usually lasts from 15-45 days.
– Transmitted primarily through fecal/ oral route.
– Prevention includes sanitation and handwashing.
– There is a vaccine available for Hepatitis A.
– Prevention against Hepatitis A includes:

PROPER HANDWASHING
AVOIDANCE OF CONTAMINATED FOOD AND WATER
RECIEVING THE HAV VACCINE

HEPATITIS B
– transmitted through blood to blood contact sexual contact or drug use (needles, razors).

– There is a vaccine available for Hepatitis B.

HEPATITIS C

– Hepatitis C is transmitted through blood to blood contact sexual contact or drug use (needles, razors)

– The patient can be asymptomatic and others are only diagnosed once abnormality is detected in the liver enzymes.

SYMPTOMS OF ACUTE HEPATITIS C

FEVER
FATIGUE
LOSS OF APPETITE
NAUSEA
VOMITING
ABDOMINAL PAIN
DARK URINE
CLAY-COLORED BOWEL MOVEMENTS
JAUNDICE (YELLOW COLOR IN THE SKIN OR EYES)
SOME OF THESE SYMPTOMS CAN ALSO BE PRESENT ON OTHER CLASSIFICATIONS OF HEPATITIS* .

NCLEX Review on Hepatitis

HEPATITIS B AND HEPATITIS C is connected with cirrhosis and liver cancer.

ENZYME-LINKED IMMUNOSORBENT ASSAY (ELISA) is the initial screening test for clients suspected of infected of the Hepatitis C (HCV) Virus.
LIVER BIOPSY can also be used to confirm the diagnosis of Hepatitis.
Treatment most often used for Hepatitis C is a combination of two medicines, INTERFERON AND RIBAVIRIN.

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