Health Priorities - Nursing Case Study

This nursing case study discusses the most likely chronic disease that fits the symptoms and history of the patient, etiology and pathophysiology of the disease, alternate diagnosis, and clinical data that can help to discriminate the two diagnoses. The patient is suffering from diverticulitis, which is caused due to inflammation of the pouches or diverticular in the intestine. The patient's condition can also be linked to inguinal hernia, which can also cause distension of the abdominal wall, pain, nausea, and sometimes diarrhea. Tests such as White Blood Cell Count, Physical Exam, CT scan, Ultrasonography, Urine Test, and Stool Test can help to differentiate between the two conditions.

Running head: HEALTH PRIORITIES
Health Priorities
-Nursing Case study
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Contents
Part 1:.........................................................................................................2
The most likely chronic disease that fits and symptoms and history of
the patient:..............................................................................................2
Etiology and Pathophysiology of the disease that can justify the patient
condition:.................................................................................................2
Any additional information about the patient that can support the
diagnosis:.................................................................................................3
Part 2:.........................................................................................................3
An alternate diagnosis that can also explain the patient condition:.......3
Clinical data that can help to discriminate the two diagnoses:..............4
References:.................................................................................................6

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Part 1:
The most likely chronic disease that fits and symptoms and history
of the patient:
The patient (Mr Bob Jackson, aged 55 years) was admitted to the
emergency department with a complaint of diarrhoea, nausea and
malaise. He was suffering from a Left Lower Quadrant pain and
diarrhoea for the last 1 week. He has a medical history of obesity,
hypertension, seasonal rhinitis, arterial fibrillation, depression and
osteoarthritis. Clinical examination revealed that he has a distension of
the lower abdomen, soft and tender abdomen in the lower left quarter,
mild obesity and increase in pain while moving.
The symptoms of diarrhoea, nausea, malaise, blood in the stool,
pain and tenderness in the left lower quadrant and pain while moving
can be related to diverticulitis. The diagnosis of diverticulitis can also be
supported by his history of obesity and hypertension (Sallinen et al. 2015). It
is known that patients suffering from diverticulitis show signs of frank
blood in the stool, experience pain in the left lower quadrant of the
abdomen and feeling of nausea and malaise and also might have
tenderness and dissention of the lower abdomen, all of which were also
seen in case of Mr Jackson. The patient is also a regular smoker which is
also known to increase the risks of diverticulitis. This suggests that the
patient might be suffering from diverticulitis (Kvasnovsky & Papagrigoriadis,
2015).
Etiology and Pathophysiology of the disease that can justify the
patient condition:
Diverticulitis or diverticular disease is a condition where the
pouches or diverticular in the intestine can get inflamed or infected. The
inflammation can be caused due to infection spreading to the diverticular
and can lead to perforations of the bowel. This can lead to intense pain,
especially in the lower left side of the abdomen as seen with the patient.
Studies have shown that diverticulitis develops the same way ad

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appendicitis and the lumen of the diverticular gets inflammed and
blocked thereby increasing the intraventricular pressure. The blockage
can be caused due to fecal matter and further blockage is caused due to
the formation of mucous (Tursi et al., 2015). This causes a proliferation of
bacteria in the diverticulum leading to diverticulitis. The blockage and
increase in the intradiverticular pressure can also lead to tenderness of
the abdomen, which was also found in the patient during the clinical
checkup (Schieffer et al., 2018). Also perforations can be caused due to
diverticulitis which can increase pain in the abdomen, especially while
movement as the perforated tissue comes in contact with the adjoining
organs. The symptoms of nausea and malaise can be attributed to
dehydration cause due to the diarrhea, as the body loses fluids. Urine
analysis of the patient showed a higher than normal specific gravity (due
to higher content of solutes) which can point towards dehydration
(Rezapour & Stollman, 2018).
Diverticulitis can be caused due to several factors such as obesity,
low fiber diet, smoking and age. The patient has a history of obesity and
is a heavy smoker which might be the cause of his condition (Tartaglia et al.,
2016; Ma et al., 2018). Also his age (55 years) and gender (male) can also
have increased his risks of the condition. It is vital however to check the
diet of the patient, whether he consumes enough fiber in his diet (Stam et
al., 2017).
Any additional information about the patient that can support the
diagnosis:
Since the patient is a sheep farmer from Melbourne, it might be
assumed that he might be physically active in his work, but also might
point out towards a high protein and low fibre diet that is common among
sheep farmers. Also, the risks of diverticulitis increase with age and are
more significant in males than in females. Additionally, due to
osteoarthritis, the patient’s movement might be restricted which might
limit his physical activities thereby increasing his risks of diverticulitis. It
is important therefore to comprehensively assess his lifestyle (such as

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daily physical activity and diet) to understand if they are related to the
patient’s condition. Appendicitis can be ruled out for the patient since he
already had his appendix removed during childhood (Mosadeghi et al., 2015;
Tate, 2014).
Part 2:
An alternate diagnosis that can also explain the patient condition:
Considering the patient condition another diagnosis that can be
related to the patient condition is inguinal hernia, which can also cause
distension of the abdominal wall, pain, nausea and sometimes diarrhoea.
Hernia can also cause pain while movement and can be caused due to
lifestyle factors as well as obesity (White et al., 2016).
Clinical data that can help to discriminate the two diagnoses:
Since the patient’s condition can be linked to both Diverticulitis
and Hernia, it is important to differentiate these two conditions to
identify which condition is causing the symptoms in order to treat the
patient effectively. Tests that can help to differentiate between the two
conditions are:
White Blood Cell Count: This can help to identify signs of infection. A rise
in the white blood cell count can increase due to an infection, when the
body tries to fight the invading pathogens. The increase in the white
blood cell leads to inflammations which are seen in case of diverticulitis.
To count the white blood cell content, blood test needs to be done. If the
WBC count is higher than normal, it can point towards a possible
infection and thus diverticulitis and hernia can be ruled out. Since in case
of hernia, there is no infection involved, it rarely causes increase in the
WBC count (van Tol et al., 2016)
Physical Exam: This is an important strategy that can help to
differentiate between inguinal hernia and diverticulitis. In case of hernia,
the distension is generally in the region of the groin, or below the lower
quadrant of the abdomen, and in case of diverticulitis the distension is in

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the region above the groin. The physical examination of the patient
showed the distension was in the lower left quadrant which pointed
towards diverticulitis. However the inguinal canal should be examined to
confirm the patient is not suffering from inguinal hernia (Guarino et al.,
2018).
CT scan: Diverticulitis can be identified through CT scans, and is visibly
identifiable by out pouches of the colonic wall. The out pouches might be
filled with air or faecal matter, which can be seen in the CT Scan Image.
The scan can also show signs of paracolic and colonic inflammation
which can be the sign of diverticulitis. However in case of hernia, the CT
scan would show distension in the groin region. In such case,
inflammation of the diverticula would not be seen (Ou et al., 2015).
Ultrasonography: This can also be used apart from CT scan to find out
abnormalities in the abdominal lining and abdominal region. In case of
diverticulitis, inflammation can be found in the diverticulum, while in
case of hernia, the diverticulum would look normal, but a bulge can be
seen near the groin muscles (Maconi et al., 2016).
Urine Test: Urine test can help to identify signs of infection and thus
understand if the patient is suffering from diverticulitis. The patient’s
urine analysis showed that it had a higher specific gravity which pointed
out towards possible dehydration as the urine contains a higher
concentration of solutes, which can be due to diarrhoea (Enemchukwu et al.,
2015).
Liver Function Test: Liver function test can help to eliminate the cause of
the abdominal pain and diarrhoea from other liver related conditions
which can also cause similar symptoms in the patient. Presence of any
liver abnormalities, which can be found through the concentrations of
bilirubin, biliverdin, SGPT and SGOT can eliminate the possibility of
diverticulitis (Ho & Apollos, 2016).
Stool Test: Stool test can be used to identify whether the patient has any
infections which might get passed in the stool. Analysis of the stool can

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show any pathogens that might be present in the alimentary canal and
thus pointing out towards diverticulitis. Absence of any infections can
point out towards hernia or other non-infective causes of the abdominal
pain (Kvasnovsky & Papagrigoriadis, 2015).

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References:
Enemchukwu, E., Lai, C., Reynolds, W. S., Kaufman, M., & Dmochowski,
R. (2015). Autologous pubovaginal sling for the treatment of
concomitant female urethral diverticula and stress urinary
incontinence. Urology, 85(6), 1300-1303.
Guarino, S., Verardi, F. M., Romiti, A., Eusebi, L. H., Bazzoli, F., Cavazza,
M., & Zagari, R. M. (2018). P. 05.18 Clinical Evaluation Of Non-
Traumatic Acute Abdominal Pain In The Emergency Department:
How Do Physicians Collect Pain Characteristics And Perform
Physical Examinations?. Digestive and Liver Disease, 50(2), e173.
Ho, W., & Apollos, J. (2016). Is periampullary diverticulum associated
with failed CBD cannulation and pre-ercp liver biochemistry?.
International Journal of Surgery, 36, S116-S117.
Kvasnovsky, C. L., & Papagrigoriadis, S. (2015). Symptoms in patients
with diverticular disease should not be labelled as IBS.
International journal of colorectal disease, 30(7), 995-995.
Ma, W., Jovani, M., Liu, P. H., Nguyen, L. H., Cao, Y., Tam, I., ... & Chan,
A. T. (2018). Sa1070-Obesity, Weight Change and Risk of
Diverticulitis: A Prospective Cohort Study in Women.
Gastroenterology, 154(6), S-229.
Maconi, G., Carmagnola, S., & Guzowski, T. (2016). Intestinal
Ultrasonography in the Diagnosis and Management of Colonic
Diverticular Disease. Journal of clinical gastroenterology, 50, S20-
S22.
Mosadeghi, S., Bhuket, T., & Stollman, N. (2015). Diverticular disease:
evolving concepts in classification, presentation, and management.
Current opinion in gastroenterology, 31(1), 50-55.

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Ou, G., Rosenfeld, G., Brown, J., Chan, N., Hong, T., Lim, H., & Bressler,
B. (2015). Colonoscopy after CT-diagnosed acute diverticulitis: Is it
really necessary?. Canadian Journal of Surgery, 58(4), 226.
Rezapour, M., Ali, S., & Stollman, N. (2018). Diverticular disease: an
update on pathogenesis and management. Gut and liver, 12(2),
125.
Sallinen, V. J., Leppäniemi, A. K., & Mentula, P. J. (2015). Staging of
acute diverticulitis based on clinical, radiologic, and physiologic
parameters. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery, 78(3), 543-
551.
Schieffer, K. M., Kline, B. P., Yochum, G. S., & Koltun, W. A. (2018).
Pathophysiology of diverticular disease. Expert review of
gastroenterology & hepatology, 12(7), 683-692.
Stam, M. A. W., Draaisma, W. A., van de Wall, B. J. M., Bolkenstein, H. E.,
Consten, E. C. J., & Broeders, I. A. M. J. (2017). An unrestricted
diet for uncomplicated diverticulitis is safe: results of a prospective
diverticulitis diet study. Colorectal Disease, 19(4), 372-377.
Tartaglia, D., Coli, V., Arces, F., Raffaele, S., Bertolucci, A., Modesti,
M., ... & Chiarugi, M. (2016). Age, BMI and severity of acute
diverticulitis: myths or facts?. Journal Of Clinical Gastroenterology.
Tate, D. (2014). Abdominal mass/hepatosplenomegaly. Acute Medicine, 1.
Tursi, A., Papa, A., & Danese, S. (2015). the pathophysiology and medical
management of diverticulosis and diverticular disease of the colon.
Alimentary pharmacology & therapeutics, 42(6), 664-684.
van Tol, R. R., Breukink, S. O., Lahaye, M. J., & Derikx, J. P. M. (2016).
Inclusion of C-Reactive Protein and White Blood Cell Count in
Diagnostic Workup of Patients with Clinically Suspected
Appendicitis Stratifies for Imaging. J Med Diagn Meth, 5(212), 2.

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White, T. L., Scheiner, J., & Picon, A. I. (2016). Retained Percutaneous
Endoscopic Gastrostomy Causing Small Bowel Obstruction in
Inguinal Hernia. The American Surgeon, 82(5), E101.