EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE PRACTICES CASE STUDY 2022

Running head: CASE STUDY PRESENTATION ON EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE
PRACTICES
Case study presentation on effective nursing care practices
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Authors note

1CASE STUDY PRESENTATION ON EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE PRACTICES
The aim of the paper is to critically analyse and understand the role of nursing care in
the current case study, as according to Gatchel, R. J. (2018), nurses plays a very crucial role
in the health care system, specially focussing on bringing improvement in the health
condition of the patients. The essay is designed to study the case based on nursing care,
evaluating the practices and knowledge applied by them in terms of patient and cultural
safety.
The case study describes medical condition of 68 years old man named Mr Jimmy
Holden, who is recently diagnosed with influenza and infection in the chest. Moreover, he is
considered to be nutritionally deprived since he is underweight. Hence, the essay will be
analysing the possible causes of such conditions and as well as certain preventive measures
that can be employed by the nursing staff to improve the condition of Mr Holden.
Influenza is one of the most fast spreading viral disease and globally, it is considered
to be one of the major causes for increased hospitalization and deaths. According to
Demicheli et al. (2018), the virus from the Orthomyxoviridae family is the main cause for this
respiratory infection. Influenza is divided into subgroups of A, B and C and the common
symptoms includes cough, headache, and muscle ache along with respiratory disorder.
It is a communicable disease, which is highly contagious. Every year, around 5-10%
of the population is affected by this common viral infection and it frequently causes
complications, such as pneumonia and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, thereby very
frequently leading to increased incidences of hospitalization and mortality (de Macedo A. &
Stolses, 2018).
The possible mode of transmission of the virus are human contact. In this case, the
person’s daughter and relatives, who are commonly visiting the person, might be a carrier of
the virus. According to a study by Singh et al. (2015), it was stated that human movement is

2CASE STUDY PRESENTATION ON EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE PRACTICES
considered to be one of the pathways for the transmission of viral infection along with other
causes such as contaminated environments, contamination from animals and birds.
Moreover, in Australia higher incidence of such viral outbreak was observed from the
poultry farm bvy the means of drinking water contamination with animal faeces and cross
contamination during transportation (Grillo et al., 2015).
According to Cheng et al. (2016), in the year 2015 an approximate 2070 cases of
influenza was reported in Australia and amongst which the elderly people over 65 years of
age constituted to around 46%. The most vulnerable group for susceptibility to influenza is
the elderly population. In another study by Talbot (2017), elderly persons with age of 65 or
more are stated to have 90%of the deaths due to influenza. The major causes for this higher
susceptibility is decreased immunity with aging, increased incidences of comorbidities (Sato
et al., 2015), and reduced response of the body to vaccines (Freitas & Donalisio, 2018) and
this results in increased hospitalization, morbidities and mortalities (Demicheli et al., 2018).
In a study by Grohskopf et al. (2018), it was stated that vaccination of the susceptible
hosts is found to be important in persons to prevent the chances of influenza and the risks
associated with it. According to the study, on annual of vaccines by everyone above 6 months
prevents influenza specially for the people who are at increased susceptibility such as
children, all persons above 50 years of age.
According to Rewar, Mirdha & Rewar (2015), treatment with the use of necessary
antiviral drugs helps in reducing the risks associated with influenza. The two drugs which are
used for the treatment of influenza includes, neuraminidase inhibitors and adamantanes
inhibitor. In Australia, the antiviral drugs that are used are Relenza and Tamiflu.(isg.org.au,
2019)

3CASE STUDY PRESENTATION ON EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE PRACTICES
Personal hygiene practices like hand washing and reduced touching of eyes, mouth
and nose are reported to decrease the risk of influenza. In a study by Liu et al. (2016), it was
reported that on using proper hand washing techniques, a protection of 79% was observed. It
was also stated that the affectivity of the virus are hampered on washing resulting in
reduction of risks associated with influenza.
Aged care facilities needs more precautions as it is different from a hospital setting. In
hospital the chances of infections are less due to the skilled and professional staff which is
lacking in the aged care facilities hence, proper preventive measures needs to be taken in
controlling infections amongst the population. (Bennett, et al. 2019)
Hand hygiene should be employed to decrease the susceptibility to infections. This
can be done by the use of soap washing, use of sanitizers and alcohol wash. Proper cleaning
of the residential aged care should be done to avoid environmental risks and contaminations.
Moreover, better behavioural changes like coughing and sneezing with the use of tissues or
napkins may decrease the spread of air-borne infections.
Annual vaccination campaigns can be arranged in the premises to immunize the
elderly form infections and in case of infections and viral pneumonia, prescription of antiviral
drugs may be administered to treat the condition.
There are many risk assements that are considered to understand the present condition
of the patient. hence, for this particular case, the risk assessments that will be followed are-
Functional risk assessment, which gives an overview of the physical mobility of the
patient. Mr. Holden, has difficulty in walking and mobility, hence the functional assessment
by the means of the criteria’s like gait, balance and mobility will give a better understanding
of the patients’ functional condition in terms of fall risk, disability in walking and mortality
(Middleton & Fritz, 2013).

4CASE STUDY PRESENTATION ON EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE PRACTICES
Followed by is pressure injury assessment. Pressure injury is the injury caused in the
toissue or muscle due to pressure exerted on the tissue for a prolonged time, resulting in lack
of blood circulation and as a result, immobility. Hence, the assessment of pressure injury can
be done to assess the tolerance capability of the tissue based on which further medications or
surgeries can be administered (McInnes et al., 2014)
The third assessment includes the fluid balance chart, which is used for patients with
sepsis. When sepsis occurs, an imbalance in the accumulation of fluid in patients takes place
which results in respiratory disorder. Since the patient is suffering from infections, a fluid
balance chart can be used to check the fluid balance in the body of the patient, which may
help in maintaining a proper balance, as a result avoiding the distress on respiration of the
patient as the patient who is also suffering from influenza (Chao et al., 2018).
Last but not the least is the assessment of the nutritional status of the patient by the
use of certain tools like Mini Nutritional Assessment tool. Since the patient is already
underweight, assessment of nutritional status will help in providing the person with a
balanced diet to improve the nutritional profile and as a result increase the immunity to fight
the disease (Ghimire, Baral & Callahan, 2017).
According to Crooks et al. (2018), as the patient belongs to the Aboriginal
community, certain cultural aspects are not considered in the making of policies and health
practices. Hence, certain measurements needs to be considered and developed on the basis of
their cultural aspects to improve the efficacy of the treatments. For example- cultural respect
should be provided to them so that a policy that is well accepted by this community can be
developed and a reduction in public health risks can be done.
Other health teams that can be made to improve the condition of the patient includes,
the formation of Behavioural health team. Ageing and co morbidities like dementia and

5CASE STUDY PRESENTATION ON EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE PRACTICES
delirium may contribute on the behaviour of the patient. Hence, a team who can look after the
patient on the behaviour or mental basis, may improve the condition in the patient (Black,
Hall & Jackson, 2019).
Another team that might be included is family health team which is a team including
members such as doctors, nurses, dieticians from the same community. As in case of the
patient, a family health team from the Aboriginal community can be implemented for better
results (Jerzak, 2017).
Hence, in conclusion, it can be stated that influenza is a contagious and rapid
spreading disease and is highly prevalent in the elderly due to decrease effectiveness in
immunity due to ageing. Hence, proper care and medical attention needs to be provided to
improve the health status of the patient. Certain precautions like improved personal hygiene
and immunization or vaccination can also be employed.
Moreover, certain risk assessments from all the aspects, which includes nutritional,
functional, fluid balance and pressure injury can help in further assessing the condition of the
patient. Furthermore, the treatment of patient keeping the cultural aspects in mind also
improves the total public health as this results in well acceptance of the policies and
conditions. Finally, involvement of health teams such as the behavioural health team to take
care of the behavioural changes, and the family health team based on the patients’ community
may further contribute to well-being and improved quality of life.

6CASE STUDY PRESENTATION ON EFFECTIVE NURSING CARE PRACTICES
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