Management of hepatitis B virus infection.
An estimated 2 million people are living with chronic hepatitis B virus (CHBV) in the United States and are at risk for long-term consequences such as cirrhosis, liver decompensation, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Less than 10 years ago, there was no treatment of CHBV infection, but now, new drugs have recently been approved and there is considerable new knowledge about the treatment of CHBV infection. Recently, consensus guidelines for the management of hepatitis B virus infection have been released by the National Institutes of Health and the American Medical Association, addressing the selection of patients and drugs for treatments. Determining what constitutes best practices to manage patients with CHBV is challenging and requires nurses and nurse practitioners to acquire and maintain up-to-date knowledge to understand recently approved drugs and disease management. Nurses and nurse practitioners should know how to identify patients who need treatment and how to educate, counsel, and monitor treatment adherence and side effects; these skills are crucially important. The goal of this article is to provide nurses with the most current consensus guidelines for the management of CHBV infection and their application in nursing practice to optimize treatment to enhance patient outcomes.
Lee
Haeok
H
College of Nursing & Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Boston, MA 02125, USA. Haeok.lee@umb.edu
Park
Wanju
W
Yang
Jin Hyang
JH
You
Kwang Soo
KS
D000328:Adult; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002648:Child; D016903:Drug Monitoring; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy* / Q000635:transmission / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods; D009722:Nurse Practitioners / Q000458:organization & administration; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009730:Nursing Assessment; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D018579:Patient Selection; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology
D000998:Antiviral Agents