COVID-19-Associated Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children and Nursing Care

Abstract

In December 2019, an epidemic of pneumonia of unknown origin occurred in Wuhan, China. This disease, caused by the “Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus 2 (SARSCoV-2)” virus, has been named “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19)”. It is reported that the frequency of COVID-19 in children is less than in adults and it progresses with milder symptoms. However, it has been observed that some children who had SARS-CoV-2 infection in Europe and America at the end of April 2020 developed fever, abdominal pain, shock, myocardial failure, and the need for intensive care. This new syndrome has been named COVID-19-associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C). MIS-C occurs 2-4 weeks after children have COVID-19 or come into contact with a patient with COVID-19. This new pediatric inflammatory disease often leads to multiple organ failure, intensive care unit admission, shock, and even death. Due to the complex nature of MIS-C, its treatment and care need to be done by a multidisciplinary team. One of the most important members of this team is the nurses. The most basic responsibilities of nurses are to evaluate the child diagnosed with MIS-C and her family, plan and implement care interventions for the needs of children and families, evaluate the results, and provide counseling to families by providing discharge training. In this review, which we prepared in line with the relevant literature, we aimed to share up-to-date information about MIS-C, which was newly defined after the COVID-19 epidemic, and to present the nursing care to be applied to children with MIS-C diagnosis