The topic this week asks you to apply what you have learned to the following case study.
As the school nurse working in a college health clinic, you see many opportunities to promote health. Maria is a 40-year-old Hispanic who is in her second year of nursing school. She complains of a 14-pound weight gain since starting school and is afraid of what this will do to both her appearance and health if the trend continues. After conducting her history, you learn that she is an excellent cook and she and her family love to eat foods that reflect their Hispanic heritage. She is married with two school-age children. She attends class a total of 15 hours per week, plus she must be present for 12 hours of labs and clinical. She maintains the household essentially by herself and does all the shopping, cooking, cleaning, and chauffeuring of the children. She states that she is lucky to get 6 hours of sleep per night, but that is okay with her. She lives 1 hour from campus and commutes each day. Using Healthy People 2020 and your text as a guide, answer the following questions.
1. What additional information would you like to gather from Maria?
2. What are Maria’s real and potential health risks?
3. Why is Maria’s culture important when obtaining the health assessment?
4. Pick one of Maria’s health risks. What would be one reasonable short-term goal for this risk?
5. What nursing interventions would you incorporate into Maria’s plan of care to assist her with meeting your chosen goal? Please provide rationale for your selections..
Your home health agency has received an order from a local hospital to evaluate and treat an elderly woman being discharged from its medical surgical unit.
Millie Gardner, an 83-year-old female patient, is being discharged home today to the care of her husband Fred (87 years old) following a 9-day hospitalization for pneumonia, dehydration, and failure to thrive. She has a history of hypertension (HTN), Type II Diabetes, and cerebral vascular accident (CVA) with left-sided weakness. Patient is alert and oriented but does have periods of forgetfulness during the overnight hours. Patient has intermittent incontinence of bowel and bladder and requires assistance with all activities of daily living (ADLs).
Medications:
• Lopressor
• Lisinopril
• Plavix
• Metformin
• Novolin R per sliding scale *NEW*
• Multivitamin
• Colace
• Zithromax *NEW*
Upon arrival you are greeted by Champ, the couple’s rambunctious miniature Doberman pinscher dog. Millie is in her wheelchair staring blankly out the window, and Fred is busy in the kitchen preparing the couple’s lunch.
• Based on the scenario above, please use the general survey process to describe the areas that you would be observing immediately upon entry to the home.
• What, if any, concerns related to Millie’s skin and nutritional status do you have?
• What nursing interventions will you include in the plan of care to address these concerns?
• What teaching strategies will you use to educate Millie and Fred on the new medications?
• Using the SBAR, please include the information that you will communicate to the physician’s office at the completion of the visit.
Discussion 3
Randy Adams is a 38-year-old male patient of Dr. Joseph Reynolds who was admitted yesterday morning for 24-hour observation for mild concussion following a motor vehicle accident. Randy lost consciousness during the accident and was very confused when he arrived in the ER after EMS transport. He is an Iraq war veteran and he seemed to think after the accident that this all happened in Iraq. Dr. Reynolds is concerned that Randy has some residual problems from a couple of explosive incidents that occurred while he was in Iraq. The physician is unsure whether Randy’s current symptoms are from the car accident or from prior injuries so he has referred him for consultations to both a neurologist and to a behavioral health specialist.
Based on the above please discuss the following.
1. Pathophysiology of concussive injuries and treatment
2. Neurological assessment tools used in your current practice setting (if not presently working, please describe one used during prior employment or schooling)
3. Current best practices associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
4. Nursing interventions you would include in this patient’s plan of care
Esther Jackson is a 56-year-old black female who is 1-day post-op following a left radical mastectomy. During morning rounds, the off-going nurse shares with you during bedside report that the patient has been experiencing increased discomfort in her back throughout the night and has required frequent help with repositioning. She states that the patient was medicated for pain approximately 2 hours ago but is voicing little relief and states that you might want to mention that to the doctor when he rounds later this morning. With the patient appearing to be in no visible distress, you proceed on to the next patient’s room for report.
Approximately 1 hour later, you return to Ms. Jackson’s room with her morning pills and find her slumped over the bedside stand in tears. The patient states, “I don’t know what is wrong, I don’t feel right. My back hurts and I’m just so tired. What is wrong with me?” The patient refuses to take her medications at this time stating that she is starting to feel sick to her stomach.
Just then the nursing assistant comes into the patient’s room to record Ms. Jackson’s vital signs, you take this opportunity to quickly research the patient’s medication record to determine if she has a medication ordered for nausea. Upon return, the nursing assistant hands you the following vital signs: T 37, R 18, and BP 132/54, but states she couldn’t get the patient’s pulse because “it is all over the place.”
Please address the following questions related to the scenario.
1. What do you suspect is the cause of the patient’s symptoms?
2. Describe the course of action that you will take to confirm this suspicion and prevent further decline.
3. What further assessments, lab values, and tests will likely be ordered for this patient and how often? If testing is to be completed more than once, please explain the rationale for doing so.
4. While you are caring for this patient, how will you ensure that the needs of your other patients are being met?
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