NUR 540 Advanced Pathophysiology Across the Lifespan Assignment- Southern New Hampshire University
Overview: In your final project, you will be asked to make clinical decisions for a patient. This short paper will help you practice clinical decision making on a disorder of the respiratory system. You will explain the rationale for a patient's physical symptoms, analyze risk factors relevant to treatment decisions for promoting patient outcomes, and identify the use of patient-care technologies that are appropriate for diagnostic testing.
Consider the following case study:
A 58-year-old, self-employed communications consultant has smoked a pack a day for more than 30 years. He has a 10-year history of asthma/chronic bronchitis and congestive heart failure. He is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 370 pounds. He routinely takes a diuretic and pulmonary medications. The following information is obtained from the medical record:
A. Diagnosis: COPD exacerbation secondary to bronchitis and right-sided CHF with newly diagnosed irregular rhythm.
B. Presenting signs and symptoms: Cough productive of brownish-green phlegm, ankle swelling, orthopnea (six pillows to help with sleep), dyspnea (on walking one block), and fever and chills.
C. Relevant diagnostic testing (consider all other lab results normal):
a. Na = 139, K = 3.8, glucose = 99, BUN = 21, creatinine = 1.6, WBC = 5,600, theophylline level = 5.7 ug/ml, BNP 780.
b. ABGs on room air: pH = 7.32, pCO2 = 57, pO2 = 57, HCO3 = 30, SaO2 saturation = 81%.
c. Chest x-ray: borderline cardiomegaly, infiltrates to right middle lobe of lungs.
d. Current vitals as follows: BP 134/58 (L. arm, sitting), RR 26, pulse 116, temp 37.1°C. The telemetry monitor shows this reading:
Atrial Fibrillation (Burns, 2011)
Reference
Burns, E. (2011). Atrial fibrillation. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International License on Lifeinthefastlane.
Prompt: From a pathophysiological perspective, write a short paper in which you address the following questions related to the respiratory system:
a. Briefly explain the rationale for the patient's physical symptoms based on the information provided.
b. Explain one to three treatment decisions for this patient based on evidence-based research.
c. Analyze some risk factors relevant to the treatment decisions for promoting better patient outcomes.
d. In addressing clinical decision making as a future graduate nurse, discuss the current diagnostic test results. What additional patient-care technologies would you recommend based on these results?
Format your assignment according to the give formatting requirements:
a. The answer must be double spaced, typed, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides.
b. The response also includes a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the course title, the student's name, and the date. The cover page is not included in the required page length.
c. Also include a reference page. The references and Citations should follow APA format. The reference page is not included in the required page length.