Assessment of Myocardial Infarction in Australia: A Nursing Assignment

Running Head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT 0
Nursing Assignment
10/4/2018

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 1
The essay brings about the discussion on the assessment of the myocardial infarction
in Australia, and the relevant aspects and concepts. It describes the particular problem or
issue, in context to the given case study. The case study is about a 65-year old woman, Kath
Harris, who lived alone, and suffered from the problem of chest pain for about 2 hours. The
essay includes the description of the case study, which includes implementing a nurse-led
case management plan which is in relation and up-to-date with the Australian statistics. The
plan to be implemented and assessed considers the purpose to ensure a quality life for the
elderly people, who have suffered a myocardial infarction. The essay in the later part,
discusses the pathophysiological treatment options, which is based on the principles and
national guidelines, including the implications for nursing practice (Bandstein et al., 2014).
The case study is about a 65-year old woman, Kath Harris who was admitted to the
emergency department complaining about the chest pain for about 2 hours. She took some
medicines that helped her in reduced chest pain, and after a proper diagnosis, she had the
problem of acute myocardial infarction. Discussing about her clinical history, past few years
she had problems of unstable angina, which refers to the condition in which the heart of the
person is not able to get enough blood or oxygen. Angina is the term, which defines about the
chest discomfort that is caused due to poor through the blood vessels of the heart muscle.
Number of other issues such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2 was also identified,
which further disclosed about her smoking habits. A recent history of indigestion also
described about her problem of acute peptic ulcer. Therefore, analysing all these things
mentioned above in relation to the case, myocardial infarction is to be taken for the study and
research in context to the country Australia (Randall et al., 2016).
Discussing about the relevance and prevailing rates of the problem of myocardial
infarction in Australia, first it is necessary to understand the meaning of the term and related
aspects. Myocardial infarction is the medical term or the name of heart attack. Heart attack
refers to the life-threatening issue or problem, which occurs when there is a blockage in the
flow of blood to the heart muscle, which leads to the damage in the tissue. The reason behind
the development of this blockage is the plague, or presence of a substance in the body, which
is mostly made of fat, cholesterol, and cellular waste product. The person or patient in the
case was also identified with the problem of diabetes mellitus type 2, and active peptic ulcer,
which mentions about other health problems (Ahmad et al., 2015). Peptic ulcer is the sores in
the lining of oesophagus, stomach, or duodenum, and one of the main symptoms of this
problem is the pain in the upper abdominal area. As in the case study, Kath Harris

NURSING ASSIGNMENT 2
experienced the problem of indigestion, which may be due to her poor lifestyle or bad habits
of smoking (Soo Hoo, Gallagher & Elliott, 2016).
The intensity of heart diseases or heart attacks is largely found in Australia, which
indicates about the high incidence and prevalence of cardiovascular disease. It has been
analysed that the cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is found to be one of the major causes of
deaths in Australia, with about 43,963 deaths in Australia in the year 2016. Cardiovascular
disease kills one Australian every 12 minutes, and is considered as one of the largest health
problems (Demaerschalk et al., 2016).
According to the statistical information, in Australia it is found that over 400,000
Australians have had the problem of heart attack. Each year, it is estimated that around
54,000 Australians suffer from the problem of heart attack, which means one heart attack
every 10 minutes. In the year 2016, it is a known fact that an average of 22 Australians died
from a heart attack each day, which is further equivalent to one death from a heart attack in
every 66 minutes. Thus, the above data describes that there is a high incidence and
prevalence of the heart diseases or heart attack in Australia past few years and is still
continued with the major impact on the health of the individuals (Diouf et al., 2016).
Signs and symptoms of the problem of cardiovascular disease or myocardial
infarction include major chest pain, and the shortness of breath. Other symptoms include pain
in the chest, back, jaw or the upper body parts, sweating, nausea, vomiting, increased heart
rate. These are some of the signs and symptoms of the issue of acute myocardial infarctions
in the human body. There are several factors, which lead to a blockage in the coronary
arteries, causing the problem of heart attack (Oliveira, Avezum & Roever, 2015). These
factors include bad cholesterol, saturated fats, or trans-fat. There are certain risk factors,
which leads to increased possibilities of heart attack and other heart diseases. It has found that
the people with certain symptoms or risk factors are prone to the cardio-vascular disease such
as heart attack. These risk factors include people with high blood pressure, high cholesterol
levels, diabetes and high sugar levels, obesity, age, and smoking are some of the factors,
which causes heart-attack. In context to the given case study, Kath Harris is found with the
smoking habits, which can be one of the reasons behind her problem of myocardial
infarction. Cardiovascular diseases may occur with the person more than 18 years in age. The
rationales related to treat patients with such symptoms, clinical rationale include using
morphine for the pain, which is associated with the MI (Myocardial infarction). Therefore, to