Nursing Assignment Question 2022

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT 1
Nursing Assignment
Name
Institutional Affiliation

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 2
Question 1
Structural and functional changes in the disease process that led to Jordan’s weight loss.
Weight loss is common in the patients suffering from Crohn's disease mainly because
of malnutrition. This is because there are no sustainable calories to meet the patient's need
especially due to the fact that the patients have less appetite for food and water. Structurally,
this is caused by inflammation and hormone changes. Leptin and ghrelin hormones are
greatly affected in patients with Crohn's disease therefore the patient cannot sense the feeling
of being hungry. This promotes malnutrition causing only the body's macromolecules such as
fats and proteins to be broken down in order to provide energy. As a result, the patient loses
weight. Additionally, increased inflammatory signals due to disease imply a negative
nutritional status which also will eventually lead to weight loss(Sood et al., 2019).
Functionally, malabsorption is more common in patients with Crohn's disease. It is normally
caused by inflammations within the intestines. Important nutrients including proteins, fats,
sugars, and minerals are as such deficient and this causes only the stored nutrients to be
utilized in energy production. All these accompanied by severe diarrhea and blood loss also
common in Crohn's disease patients result in weight loss(Van Tilburg et al., 2017).
Malabsorptive diarrhea may impair the digestion and absorption of the fats and this is so
common in many inflammatory bowel disease cases. This is because these diseases affect the
pancreatic enzyme secretion which helps in the digestion of the fats. The overall result is the
abnormal processing of fats and the protein diet which in turn facilitates weight loss. Watery
diarrhea indicates poor absorption of the carbohydrates. This malabsorption implies that the
energy source will decline and the body shifts to the utilization of the stored glycogen hence
weight loss.

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 3
Incomplete digestion and extreme hungers are also the key factors that greatly
resulted in weight loss to Jordan. This is shown by the increased abdominal gurgling and
rumbling that were noticed while he was in hospital. Incomplete digestion would result from
the fact that the patients’ intestines are inflamed which shows that some parts of the digestive
tract does not function as expected. Extreme hunger results from the fact that Jordan has not
been feeding. Weight loss in Crohn’s patients is due to reduced food intake hence less
calories rather than an increase in energy cost by the disease because the active disease
through its inflammatory processes only raise resting energy expenditure which are
insignificant in weight loss. (Higashiyama et al., 2019).
Question 2
The pain pathway
It involves transduction, transmission, modulation and perception. Nerve endings are
activated by mechanical, chemical or heat tissue-damaging stimuli. These stimuli activate
and sensitize the nociceptors which are located peripherally at the site of exposure. The
stimuli are then converted to an electrical signal within this stage. Transmission involves the
relaying of the message from the injury site to the brain regions underlying the perception.
The transmitted impulses, therefore, enter the spinal cord through the dorsal root and
terminates on the central nervous system (Eller-Smith et al., 2018). Modulation entails those
processes that aim to lower activity in the transmission while the perception involves the
merging of several sensory impulses towards the production of pain sensation(Yuill et al.,
2017).
Mechanism of action of morphine.
This drug has a high affinity towards the delta, kappa, and mu-opioid receptors. It binds to
the mu-opioid receptors in both the central nervous system as well as the peripheral nervous