Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease and Hematologic Disorders
Sample Answer for Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease and Hematologic Disorders Included After Question
As an advanced practice nurse, you will likely experience patient encounters with complex comorbidities. For example, consider a female patient who is pregnant who also presents with hypertension, diabetes, and has a recent tuberculosis infection. How might the underlying pathophysiology of these conditions affect the pharmacotherapeutics you might recommend to help address your patient’s health needs? What education strategies might you recommend for ensuring positive patient health outcomes?
For this Discussion, you will be assigned a patient case study and will consider how to address the patient’s current drug therapy plans. You will then suggest recommendations on how to revise these drug therapy plans to ensure effective, safe, and quality patient care for positive patient health outcomes.
RESOURCES
Be sure to review the Learning Resources before completing this activity.
Click the weekly resources link to access the resources.
WEEK 9 RESOURCES
To Prepare:
- Review the Resources for this module and reflect on the different health needs and body systems presented.
- Your Instructor will assign you a complex case study to focus on for this Discussion.Links to an external site.
- Consider how you will practice critical decision making for prescribing appropriate drugs and treatment to address the complex patient health needs in the patient case study you selected.
BY DAY 3 OF WEEK 9
Post a brief description of your patient’s health needs from the patient case study you assigned. Be specific. Then, explain the type of treatment regimen you would recommend for treating your patient, including the choice or pharmacotherapeutics you would recommend and explain why. Be sure to justify your response. Explain a patient education strategy you might recommend for assisting your patient with the management of their health needs. Be specific and provide examples.
You will respond to your colleagues’ posts in Week 10.
Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the Reply button to complete your initial post. Remember, once you click on Post Reply, you cannot delete or edit your own posts and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Post Reply!
BY DAY 6 OF WEEK 10
Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses from Week 9 and respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who were assigned a different patient case study, and provide recommendations for alternative drug treatments to address the patient’s pathophysiology. Be specific and provide examples.
A Sample Answer For the Assignment: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
Title: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
HH is a 68-year-old male that has been admitted to the medical ward with a diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia. He has been started on antibiotics for the last three days and his symptoms have improved. However, he is food intolerant. Therefore, this paper examines his health needs, patient education, and treatment plan changes that I would consider for his health and recovery.
One of HH’s health needs is the promotion of optimum nutrition. Currently, the patient does not tolerate any diet because of nausea and vomiting. He is at a risk of deficient nutrition, which would affect the recovery process. Nausea and vomiting could be attributed to causes such as the side effects of the antibiotics he is currently using (Eekholm et al., 2020). Therefore, an effective plan such as providing the patient small frequent meals is appropriate for optimum nutrition.
The other health need is the maintenance of normal hydration status. Nausea and vomiting increase the risk of fluid volume deficit. The patient should increase oral intake of fluids to replace the lost fluid and electrolytes. Monitoring of input output should also be undertaken to ensure adequate hydration. The current treatment regime has been effective, as evidenced by improved symptoms. As a result, I would consider ensuring that the antibiotics are administered for up to seven days to achieve optimum therapeutic effect (Cillóniz et al., 2018; Tansarli & Mylonakis, 2018). I will evaluate the patient at the fifth and seventh data before discontinuing the medications.
I would educate the patient about the importance of medication adherence for the achievement of the desired outcomes. I would also educate him about the importance of maintaining optimum hydration to loosen secretions. The education will also focus on danger signs such as worsening respiratory distress, which should be reported (Olson & Davis, 2020). I would also educate him about the importance of pneumococcal vaccine and balanced diet to prevent pneumonia and promote recovery.
Overall, the patient has responded positively to the treatment. The treatment should aim at meeting his health needs such as nutrition and hydration. The treatment should be extended for up to seven days to achieve optimum therapeutic effect. Health education should focus on increasing treatment outcomes as well as patient’s lifestyle and behavioral change.
References
Cillóniz, C., Rodríguez-Hurtado, D., & Torres, A. (2018). Characteristics and Management of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in the Era of Global Aging. Medical Sciences, 6(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.3390/medsci6020035
Eekholm, S., Ahlström, G., Kristensson, J., & Lindhardt, T. (2020). Gaps between current clinical practice and evidence-based guidelines for treatment and care of older patients with Community Acquired Pneumonia: A descriptive cross-sectional study. BMC Infectious Diseases, 20(1), 73. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12879-019-4742-4
Olson, G., & Davis, A. M. (2020). Diagnosis and Treatment of Adults With Community-Acquired Pneumonia. JAMA, 323(9), 885–886. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.21118
Tansarli, G. S., & Mylonakis, E. (2018). Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of the Efficacy of Short-Course Antibiotic Treatments for Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Adults. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 62(9), e00635-18. https://doi.org/10.1128/AAC.00635-18
A Sample Answer 2 For the Assignment: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
Title: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
Case Study
A 46-year-old, 230lb woman with a family history of breast cancer. She is up to date on yearly mammograms. She has a history of HTN. She complains of hot flushing, night sweats, and genitourinary symptoms. She had felt well until 1 month ago and presented to her gynecologist for her annual GYN examination and to discuss her symptoms. She has a history of ASCUS about 5 years ago on her pap; other than that, Pap smears have been normal. Home medications are Norvasc 10mg QD and HCTZ 25mg QD. Her BP today is 150/90. She has regular monthly menstrual cycles. Her LMP was one month ago.
Treatment Regimen
After analyzing the symptoms, I concluded that the patient is experiencing peri-menopausal symptoms. For many people, menopause begins around age 45 though the onset of symptoms varies across different people. She is undergoing the early stages of menopause which is a stage that begins with experiencing changes in the uterus, breasts, increased fat deposit, and the urogenital tract undergoing several changes such as a shrinking cervix, and reduced muscle tone in the pelvic area. At that age, the level of estrogen production is low hence, leading to hot flashes and night sweats. Therefore, her treatment regime will focus on taking into consideration the patient has Hypertension already. Hormone therapy will be eliminated and prescribe vaginal cream that would help her manage genitourinary symptoms such as vaginal dryness and dyspareunia (Yoo et al., 2020). Mood changes and hot flashes are common symptoms of menopause hence the patient will be prescribed low-dose antidepressants such as venlafaxine and sertraline. Besides, herbal treatment has been proven to be effective in managing vasomotor symptoms hence the patient can be prescribed black cohosh which helps in reducing many menopausal symptoms (Mahady, et al., 2002).
As people continue to age, their bones become weak and this increases their chances of suffering born fractures. Therefore, the patient will be given vitamin D supplements to the increase production of estrogen which reduces with age and reduces cases of bone fractures.
During the clinical interview, I realized that the patient is taking Norvasc 10 mg and hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) 25 mg. I would advise her to discontinue taking Norvasc since the drug acts as a calcium blocker hence leading to hypertension and besides, its side effects increase menopause symptoms. Since she has hypertension, I would recommend that she takes lisinopril 20 mg daily. This should help alleviate the flushing that the patient has been experiencing (Li et al., 2016). Additionally, the patient has a history of ASCUS, hence I will advise her to continue with her PAP smear exams. With her blood pressure being high currently, and the fact that she is taking Norvasc, she will be encouraged to stop Norvasc but increase the HTCZ dosage to 50mg daily. The patient is expected to come regularly for assessment and examination of the drugs and symptoms.
Patient Education Strategies
Patient education has become an effective strategy to influence patients’ behavior to start living a quality life. The patient will be educated on ways to maintain weight through diet modification, become physically active, and practice relaxation as one way to reduce the severity of menopause symptoms and chances of getting breast cancer (Paterick et al., 2017). The patient will be educated about things she needs to avoid such as the use of exogenous hormones to reduce getting breast cancer going to her family history (Stuenkel et al., 2015). All this information will be passed to the patient through her patient portal which is deemed the best instructional method for her as she can access the information from the comfort of her home.
References
Li, R. X., Ma, M., Xiao, X. R., Xu, Y., Chen, X. Y., & Li, B. (2016). Perimenopausal syndrome and mood disorders in perimenopause: prevalence, severity, relationships, and risk factors. Medicine, 95(32).
Mahady, G. B., Fabricant, D., Chadwick, L. R., & Dietz, B. (2002). Black cohosh: an alternative therapy for menopause?. Nutrition in Clinical Care, 5(6), 283-289.
Paterick, T. E., Patel, N., Tajik, A. J., &Chandrasekaran, K. (2017, January). Improving health outcomes through patient education and partnerships with patients. In Baylor University Medical Center Proceedings (Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 112-113). Taylor & Francis.
Manson, J. E., &Kaunitz, A. M. (2016). Menopause management—getting clinical care back on track. N Engl J Med, 374(9), 803-6.
Stuenkel, C. A., Davis, S. R., Gompel, A., Lumsden, M. A., Murad, M. H., Pinkerton, J. V., & Santen, R. J. (2015). Treatment of symptoms of the menopause: an endocrine society clinical practice guideline. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 100(11), 3975-4011.
Yoo, T. K., Han, K. D., Kim, D., Ahn, J., Park, W. C., &Chae, B. J. (2020). Hormone replacement therapy, breast cancer risk factors, and breast cancer risk: a nationwide population-based cohort. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, 29(7), 1341-1347.