Archive for category: My Nursing Writer

A group of student nurses have been asked to do a conference on the importance of the gastrointestinal system. They open their presentation with the following statement: “As nurses, we spend every day, as part of our routine assessment, asking patients whether they have moved their bowels today. We are not asking just for the sake of asking, as this normal bodily function hinges on many factors.”

a. What concepts of gastrointestinal function do you believe the students are trying to portray in relation to this statement?

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.

2.

During a follow up visit, a strong smell of urine is apparent when assessing Millie and you notice that she seems a bit more restless than usual. When questioned, Millie reports feeling discomfort in her tailbone area. You suspect that Millie may be experiencing some skin breakdown.

What would you do next?

What additions/revisions would you anticipate making to your plan of care?

I want this assignment asap -PLAGIARISM MUST BE LESS THAN 10%

sychosis and schizophrenia greatly impact the brain’s normal processes, which interferes with the ability to think clearly. When symptoms of these disorders are uncontrolled, clients may struggle to function in daily life. However, clients often thrive when properly diagnosed and treated under the close supervision of a psychiatric mental health practitioner. For this Assignment, as you examine the client case study in this week’s Learning Resources, consider how you might assess and treat clients presenting with psychosis and schizophrenia.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Assess client factors and history to develop personalized plans of antipsychotic therapy for clients
• Analyze factors that influence pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes in clients requiring antipsychotic therapy
• Evaluate efficacy of treatment plans
• Analyze ethical and legal implications related to prescribing antipsychotic therapy to clients across the lifespan

 

To prepare for this Assignment:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources. Consider how to assess and treat clients requiring anxiolytic therapy.

The Assignment

Examine Case Study: Pakistani Woman with Delusional Thought Processes. You will be asked to make three decisions concerning the medication to prescribe to this client. Be sure to consider factors that might impact the client’s pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes.

At each decision point stop to complete the following:

• Decision #1
  • Which decision did you select?
  • Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #1 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
• Decision #2
  • Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #2 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
• Decision #3
  • Why did you select this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • What were you hoping to achieve by making this decision? Support your response with evidence and references to the Learning Resources.
  • Explain any difference between what you expected to achieve with Decision #3 and the results of the decision. Why were they different?
• SAMPLE  ONLY

 

NURS 6630

WEEK SEVEN

Case 2: Volume 2, Case #11: The figment of a man who looked upon the lady

Introduction

Briefly, this is a scenario of a 42 year- old woman with a complex psychiatric history extending from depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, insomnia, visual hallucinations (little man)and impaired behavior with aggression. In the course of more than 36 months, the client was treated with Paroxetine (SSRI), Bupropion ( NDRI), Tiagabine, Ramelteon and , but finally a combination of Lexapro, Bupropion and quetiapine was able to decrease her symptoms . The client’s medical history includes diabetes, hypertension, CAD, hyperlipidemia, COPD, OSA, GERD, Glaucoma, overweight and a remote history of substance abuse.

Related Professional Questions

Certain medications or supplements can cause symptoms of mental illness and also due to her extensive medical history and usage of multiple medications I would ask the following questions:

1. Do you take any over -the – counter, herbal supplements or remedies and I would check for interactions with current medication regimen?

2. When and how often do you use your albuterol inhaler ? Some of the side effects of albuterol include anxiety, nervousness, and insomnia ( Cunha, 2016)

Sleep Hygiene: Do you keep regular sleep schedule ? Do you drink caffeine beverages close to bedtime?

Patient History

The patient may not be a reliable source of information, particularly that she has a significant mental illness that affects her functioning, hence verifying her responses with her direct family members, and mental social workers to get clues to the underlying or precipitating causes of mental crisis. Also checking facility records from previous encounters, or any psychiatric hospitalizations would be useful.

Diagnostics Testing

1. Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH). Based on recent evidence, the prevalence of depressive symptoms in hypothyroidism was nearly 50%, and clinical depression occurs in more than 40% of people suffering from hypothyroidism ( Bhagwat, 2017)

2. Electrocardiogram (ECG) The client has cardiovascular diseases ( HTN, CAD), with risks of cardio complications. In the setting of taking antidepressants and antipsychotics, baseline ECG and possibly every three to six months would be appropriate.  Several atypical antipsychotics including quetiapine (Seroquel) are known to cause prolongation of the QT interval, hypothesized to occur via direct inhibition of the cardiac delayed potassium rectifier channel, which extends the ventricular repolarization process (Zhai et al., 2017)

Differential Diagnoses

1. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD)_

2. Major Depressive Disorder  (MDD)

3. Insomnia Disorder.

Pharmacotherapy Options for Sleep/ Wake cycle

1. Zolpidem (Ambien) 5mg oral at bedtime for Seven days.

Zolpidem is nonbenzodiazepine hypnotic, it works by enhancing GABA inhibitory actions that provide sedative hypnotic effects more selectively than other actions of GABA (Stahl, 2017). With its side effects of sedation,  low dose prescribed as the client has respiratory problems (sleep apnea OSA)).  Studies have shown that Zolpidem did not significantly worsen OSA as measured by the numbers and duration of pauses in breathing during sleep, but in one trial, it significantly lowered minimum oxygen levels during the night when compared with placebo ( Mason & Smith, 2015).

2. Trazadone 25 mg oral at bedtime for Thirty days.

Trazadone is a serotonin 2 antagonist/reuptake inhibitor, used in management of depression and insomnia. It is absorbed well, metabolized by CYP 450 3A4 with average half life of 6hrs. It has less side sedative effects compared to zolpidem (Stahl, 2017)

The best choice for the client would be Trazadone as there is no reliable evidence of dependence or withdraws and it can also work for the client’s depression.

Conclusion

The case was a perfect example how it is sometimes difficult to find effective pharmacological treatments of psychiatric illnesses. In the course of four years, the client was prescribed 5-6 medications targeting different neurotransmitters to improve the symptoms. Client’s polypharmacy increased risks of drug-drug interactions, and her medical comorbidities increased risks of adverse reactions. Lesson learned from this study was  that treatment  should be optimally initiated after diagnosis, and augment or switching to a new agent must be carefully  done in consideration of possible  side effects and better outcomes.

References

Bhagwat, N., Tayde, P., Sharma, P., Sharma, B., Dalwadi, P., Sonawane, A., … Varthakavi, P. (2017). Hypothyroidism and depression: Are cytokines the link? Indian Journal of Endocrinology and Metabolism, 21(6), 886. Retrieved from https://web-b-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&sid=aeb79c1d-68dc-40a4-bd10-f956796bc9e8%40sessionmgr101

Cunha, J. (2016). Common Side Effects of Ventolin HFA (Albuterol Sulfate Inhalation Aerosol) Drug Center – RxList. Retrieved from https://www.rxlist.com/ventolin-hfa-side-effects-drug-center.htm

Mason, M., & Smith, I. (2015). Effects of opioid, hypnotic and sedating medications on obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) in adults with known OSA | Cochrane. Retrieved from http://www.cochrane.org/CD011090/AIRWAYS_effects-opioid-hypnotic-and-sedating-medications-obstructive-sleep-apnoea-osa-adults-known-osa

Zhai, D., Lang, Y., Dong, G., Liu, Y., Wang, X., Zhou, D., … Zhang, R. (2017). QTc interval lengthening in first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients in the earliest stages of antipsychotic treatment. Schizophrenia Research, 179, 70-74. Retrieved from https://resolver-ebscohost-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/openurl?ID=pmid%3a27727006&genre=article&atitle=QTc+interval+lengthening+in+first-episode+schizophrenia+(FES)+patien

Please respond to the following: “Product Ladder and Hierarchy of Needs”

Assess the importance of the Ries and Trout’s Product Ladder as a target marketing device within the health care industry. Provide a rationale for your response.

Assess the level of necessity for health care marketers to possess an effective understand of human motivation in order to better understand their customers. Provide at least two (2) specific examples of the use of human motivation within a health care organization.

Assignment Details:

Perform the following tasks:

· To complete this assignment:

– Review the case study and select one of the committee roles.

– Your selection as a member on the committee

– Identification one or more issues, related to your role on the committee

– Identification of probable cause(s) of identified issue(s)

– Proposed recommendations to resolve the identified issues

– Reference slide – list of academic references, using APA style

Case Study

Read the following case study

A good friend of yours is director of nursing at a 220-bed community hospital. Last year the hospital merged with a much larger medical center. One of the upsides, as well as one of the challenges, resulting from this change has been the rapid introduction of new computer systems. The goal is to bring the hospital “up to speed” within 3 years. At present, the Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) is being implemented. The general medical and surgical units went live last month. The ICU, pediatrics, and obstetrics units are scheduled to go live next month. The plan is to work out any kinks or problems on the general units and then go live in the specialty units. Most of the physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants initially complained but are now becoming more comfortable with the computers and are beginning to integrate the CPOE process into their daily routines. Several physicians are now requesting the ability to enter orders from their offices and others are looking into this option. However, three physicians have not commented during this process but are clearly resisting. For example, after performing rounds and returning to their offices they called the unit with verbal orders. After being counseled on this behavior, they began to write the orders on scraps of paper and put these in the patient’s charts or leave them at the nurses’ station. When they were informed that these were not “legal orders,” they began smuggling in order sheets from the non-activated units. In addition, they have been coercing the staff nurses on the units to enter the orders for them. This has taken two forms. Sometimes they sign in and then ask the nurses to enter the orders. Other times they ask the nurses to put the orders in verbally and then they confirm the orders. The nurses feel caught between the hospital’s goals and the need to maintain a good working relationship with these physicians.

You suggest to your friend (director of nursing) to create an informal committee to review the issues surrounding the CPOE implementation. The committee would determine methods to address these issues, prior to implementing CPOE within the ICU, pediatrics, and obstetrics units. Your friend appreciates the suggestion and forms a small committee with the following members:

· Taylor Terrific, RN – a nurse practitioner

· Dr. Dudley Do-Right – a physician who uses the CPOE system routinely and correctly

· Dr. Frank Burns – a physician who rarely, if ever, uses the CPOE system

The director of nursing asks each committee member to create a short PowerPoint presentation for the committee. The presentation would identify issues that occurred during CPOE implementation, identify potential causes of such issues, and list specific recommendations, based on strong rationale and research, to resolve the identified issues prior to the next CPOE implementation. Each committee member will have a unique perspective, based on their position (i.e., nurse, physician).