Case Study Analysis of Mrs. Sharon McKenzie

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
CASE STUDY ANALYSIS OF MRS. SHARON MCKENZIE
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Answer 1
Disease outline
Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) is a health condition, in which affected patient’s heart
muscles become weak and unable to pump ample amount of blood in their organs and tissues
(D’amario et al., 2017). This is a severe and chronic condition, due to which the systole and
diastole motion of heart is affected, increasing the heart rate, blood pressure and irregular
heartbeat. As per Srikanthan et al. (2017), the CHF is primarily associated to the ventricular heart
muscles, which pumps oxygenated blood from heart chambers to the entire body and due to this
complication, patient’s heart becomes unable to pump blood properly (Benotti et al., 2017). Due
to this scarcity, vital organs of the body starts accumulating fluids around their smooth muscles,
in which kidney, heart, liver and smooth muscles of leg and hands are crucial. Further, due to
accumulation of blood, the patient starts feeling discomfort as well as shortness of breath occurs
(D’amario et al., 2017). In this provided case study, it was seen that Mrs. Sharon McKenzie (77)
has a history of myocardial infarction, and showed symptoms such as swollen ankle, cold feet,
and shortness of breath which indicated towards the condition of CHF.
Cause, risk factor and prevalence in Australia
The causes of CHF are associated to the lifestyle and heart disorders of the patient. As
per Shah et al. (2016), people with weak heart muscles, specifically weak ventricular heart
muscle shows the symptoms of CHF because the weak heart muscles are unable to pump
adequate blood to the entire body, due to which, the heart creates extra pressure on its ventricles
and blood vessels (American Diabetes Association, 2016). Due to this extra pressure, the heart
muscles beats irregularly, by increasing heart rate and blood pressure in the blood vessels, as this

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
is the way, the heart could meet the blood requirement of different bodily organs (Benotti et al.,
2017). Hence, CHF condition occurs. Further, it was seen through research outcomes of
Chatterjee et al. (2017), that people with past history of myocardial infarction, has the chances of
acquiring CHF, because of weaker heart muscles. Moreover, in such situation, if patients
perform extensive exercise or cardiac works, chances of CHF increases.
While analyzing the prevalence of the CHF among Australians, it was found that
Australian government do not have any national or local data about the prevalence of this
disorder (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2019). However, there are international
studies that has indicated towards the fact that more than 300,000 people were found affected
with this health condition and within that 30,000 cases were identified within a year. More than
4% of the people over age of 45 were found to be affected with CHF (Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare, 2019).
Risk factors associated to CHF is history of heart related disorders, such as myocardial
infarction, that weakens the heart muscle, increased blood pressure, drastic change in diet and
consumption of fat and oil, bacterial or viral infection, plaque formation in the blood vessels
could also lead to this chronic heart condition (Chatterjee et al., 2017). These aspects were also
seen in the case study of Mrs. McKenzie.
Answer 2
Table of sign, symptom and associated pathophysiology is as follows:
Sign symptoms of CHF in Mrs. McKenzie Pathophysiology of the symptoms
The first symptom of CHF in Mrs. McKenzie
was associated to her shortness of breath.
As per shortness of breath is among the
primary symptoms which the patient with

3NURSING ASSIGNMENT
CHF develops due to the accumulation of
fluid around the smooth muscle of bodily
organs (Patel et al., 2017). If the lungs of
patient accumulated excess fluid around it, the
patient may feel heavy around their chest and
starts facing abnormalities in their breathing
(D’amario et al., 2017). In the case, study, it
was seen that Mrs. McKenzie was facing
shortness of breath, each time she performed
any strenuous action. Further, she had past
history of myocardial infarction, that
weakness her heart muscle leading to CHF.
The second crucial symptom which was seen
in case of Mrs. McKenzie was her increased
blood pressure and elevated respiratory rate,
which required immediate intervention
In CHF, patient’s heart muscle becomes
unable to pump adequate blood to the body
organs, however it is important to meet the
need of blood, for which, the heart puts extra
pressure on its ventricles and in the course,
the pressure of blood in the vessels increases.
Hence, elevated blood pressure is seen in
congestive heart failure (Forsyth, 2017).
In this case study, Mrs. McKenzie’s
respiratory rate and blood pressure was also
elevated that indicated towards the occurrence
of CHF.
The third symptom which required medical
assistance was her swollen ankle and cold
feet, which indicated towards accumulated
fluid around her bones and smooth muscles.
Further, it was evident through research of
Ward et al. (2018). that patient with CHF,
while accumulating fluid around the body,
organs and muscles, liver, kidney, lungs, heart
and the leg and arm muscles are the first one
to start accumulating fluids around them ,e
hence, swollen ankle is a common symptom
among patients with congestive heart failure.
In this case study, hence, swollen ankle was
observed as the primary symptom for Mrs.
McKenzie.
Answer 3
The drug which has been chosen for the patient, belong to the glycoside class of drug.
The primary function of the drug inside the human body is to increase the strength of the heart