Evaluation of the Difference Between non-COVID-19 Pneumonia and COVID-19 Pneumonia Nursing Care

Abstract

Aim This study was aimed to contribute to the nursing care of COVID-19 pneumonia by determining the similarities and differences in nursing care for COVID-19 pneumonia and non-COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods This study aimed to retrospectively evaluate the nursing care applied to 84 pneumonia patients who were hospitalized in Sivas Numune Hospital Chest Diseases Service between 2018-2019 and 81 in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia between May and November 2020. Results COVID-19 pneumonia patients were older than non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients (p<0.001), and the majority of patients were hypertensive and diabetic (p<0.05). The most common symptom for COVID-19 pneumonia patients is dyspnea (p<0.05) while for non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients it is fever (p<0.001). 77.8% of COVID-19 pneumonia patients but non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients had bilateral pneumonia with the feature of multiple mottling and ground-glass opacity on CT images. LDH, CRP, PCT, AST/ALT, and D-dimer levels increased significantly higher in COVID-19 pneumonia patients than in COVID-19 pneumonia patients (p<0.001). 26.2% of non-COVID-19 pneumonia patients, all of COVID-19 pneumonia patients' liver function tests, and coagulation factors were regularly monitored. COVID-19 pneumonia patients received %100 of patients antiviral drugs, 74.1% of patients corticosteroids, 92.5% of patients anticoagulant, 39.5% psychological support different from non-COVID-19 patients. Conclusion D-dimer and procalcitonin elevation in patients who develop pneumonia due to COVID-19 may be indicators of the need for intensive care in nursing care. Besides, it was concluded that liver functions and DVT follow-up in COVID-19 pneumonia should be included in nursing care.