Care of a Patient with a Medical Condition

Running head: CARE OF A PATIENT WITH A MEDICAL CONDITION
CARE OF A PATIENT WITH A MEDICAL CONDITION
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1CARE OF A PERSON WITH A MEDICAL CONDITION
The given case study is about an old woman of 77 years of age named Miss Violet
Paterson. She was suffering from acute myocardial infection and was admitted to the ward.
Currently her condition is good, her health condition was improved. After analysing the history it
was found as she was suffering from hypertension and osteoporosis. During the last few months,
the conditions of osteoporosis and blood pressure increased a lot and these things even affected
her daily routine. She lives alone in the 3rd floor of an apartment with no one else except her cat.
The old woman was admitted to the hospital and there she is supposed to get all the care
from the nurse. The care plan of the nurse provides all the healthcare benefits needed by the
patient. The main focus of this care plan is to provide a standard and holistic care plan. The care
plan identifies the problems that the patient is suffering (Westra et al., 2015).
The nurse must do proper assessment of the lady, the medical reports that the nurse has till
now and also the diagnostic reports. The nurse must assess the physical conditions of the patient
along with the psychological conditions, sexual, emotional, cultural, spiritual, functional and age.
The other areas which need to be considered by the nurse are the economic conditions and the
environmental conditions (Hoffman, 2015). The old lady lives alone and also her economic
condition is not so good. The nurse must emphasize on this.
The nurse must outline the outcomes expected by the patients. She must make sure whether
the disease can be progressed within a short period of time or a long period of time.
The nurse must include the nursing documentations in the plan. Evaluation of the
documents are also needed for the nursing interventions (Johnstone & Hutchinson, 2015).
For the aged lady in the case study, the nurse must take proper care as the woman has heart
attack and her history also shows high blood pressure and osteoarthritis. High blood pressure

2CARE OF A PERSON WITH A MEDICAL CONDITION
leads to the heart attack so if the blood pressure of the lady is not controlled, then the heart attack
may occur again in future.
The three nursing assessments include admission assessment.The nurse must know properly
about the history of the old woman. Normally a nurse should know whether the patient has some
histories of allergies or reactions or medications, status of immunization and also the history of
the family. In the given case study. The patient has already found with the history of
osteoarthritis and high blood pressure. The nurse must know in detail about the medications that
she has already taken before ( Baket et al., 2013)
The patient’s physical, emotional and behaviour must be thoroughly considered by the nurse.
The emotions and behaviours of any patient changes with ages and so the nurses must also
possess accordingly. The care requirements of children are different from those of the adults and
adolescents. The children need care as given by the parents. The mood of the children also
changes because of the disease. The requirements of the adolescents are again different. The
maintaining of personal hygiene and proper communication is important. In the given case, the
patient is an aged woman who needs a care as a child gives to her mother. She needs all the
medicines to be given from time to time as it is difficult for an aged person to understand about
the medicines in details (Chen & Voyles, 2013).
The signs which are vital must also be considered by the nurse like temperature, blood
pressure, heart rate, pain, respiratory rate. Apart from these other requirements like height and
weight must also be considered. For the lady in the case study, the blood pressure has been found
to be very high which lead to her heart attack. She was also suffering from pain of arthritis. So
the nurse must proceed by considering the all conditions (Chen & Voyles, 2013).

3CARE OF A PERSON WITH A MEDICAL CONDITION
Shift assessment is another assessment. After completing each and every shift, the nurse has
the duty to complete the assessment of each and every patient. For the old lady, the nurse must
check the noises, cough and other secretions should be checked. The sound of the breathe,
movement of respiratory air and the requirements of oxygen must be checked regularly ( Ball et
al., 2014). The pulse rate, temperature of the body, colour of the skin, lip and nail bed is also
needed to be recorded. The old lady has been found to be a sufferer of osteoarthritis so she is no
doubt suffering from pain. The nurse must make sure that the pain is decreasing day by day. The
assessment of bowel and bladder systems should also be assessed (Sand‐Jecklin & Sherman,
2014).
Another important assessment is focussed assessment.This assessment involves assessing
in details the specific systems that the patient is affected. The woman of the case study needs the
following assessment:
Assessment of the respiratory system- The nurse must note about the duration of the cough if
it is present. Though respiratory problems are not reported in the history of the patient but still,
the respiratory rate should be checked, whether it is low or not. The shape of the chest should be
noted and also the tracheal position.
Assessment of circulatory system – The woman is suffering from heart attack, so this
assessment is the most important one as it measures the cardiac input and output. The status of
the circulation of blood and also the hydration status should be checked. The oedema condition
must also be checked by her. The rate of pulses and the skin conditions are also very important
( Leiberman et al., 2013).