Nursing Assignment: Case Study of Memory Loss in Elderly Patient

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

NURSING ASSIGNMENT1
The case study provided is about a 70 year old male having medical history of
hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. He is under medications of Lipitor, Ambien, Xanax and
ibuprofen. The clinical manifestations of the patients were that, he was not able to recall the
names of his family members, he was also not able to remember his room number and also he
was forgetting after repeating what he had just read. He was becoming aggressive an agitated
quickly and seemed to be afraid and fearful at the time of becoming aggressive. He used to get
up and wander at night and sometimes forget his room and had to take help to go back to his
room.
According the clinical symptoms of the patient of the case study, it can be said that he
had been suffering from memory loss but in order to determine whether the memory loss is short
term or long time. The patient used to take medicine Ambien, which shows that the patient was
suffering from sleep disorder. The primary medical diagnoses of this test were finding the exact
time period when the problems of memory loss had started, the triggering factors for the
symptoms, the history of the family regarding the neurological diseases, substance abuse,
cognitive tests and physical exams including the neurological examination and other
physiological aspect of the brain and the nervous system (Karabekiroğlu, Yılmaz &
Kocamanoğlu, 2015). The secondary medical diagnoses should be done as the level of both the
white and red blood cells had increased. As the white blood cells increased the patient might had
any infection or inflammation or this also indicate that the patient had any disorder in the
immune system or bone marrow disease. These diagnoses are considered as the patient showed
symptoms of memory loss and laboratory test showed high level of lymphocytes in blood (Tanır
& Özmaden, 2018).

NURSING ASSIGNMENT2
While doing the assessments the nurses must find out the actual reasons of the memory
loss as memory loss can be due to strokes in brain, diabetes, high blood pressure, deficiencies of
nutrition, reactions to alcohol and medications. The patient of the case study had medical history
of hypertension and he regularly used to take medicine for controlling hypertension. The
memory loss can be because of Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, Huntington’s disease or
Corticobasal degeneration (Halder & Mahato, 2015).
The laboratory report of the patient showed an increased level of leukocytes in blood and
proteins in urine. The blood pressure is slightly altered than the normal value but the rate of
heart-best and respiratory rate had increased. The patient had lost the ability to remember
anything and this would definitely affects the emotions of the patient. The current physical,
psychological and emotional status of the patient would made him realize that he was leading a
life different from other people. The reduced health condition of the patient affected the family
members also as they had to assist the patient in performing every task as he was suffering from
memory loss and difficulties in ambulating and unsteady gait.
The areas of prevention which may reduce the memory loss are changing the risk factors
like losing weight and quitting smoking, cognitive activities, changing the diet and the nutrition,
changing the life style and getting involved into physical exercises. The interventions that need
to be followed by the nurses are getting engaged in different cognitive activities like music,
reading or writing, getting engaged in physical exercises and the exercises must be done daily
(Klimova et al., 2015). The nurse should prepare a diet plan especially for the patient, preferable
a Mediterranean diet. The patient must maintain a good sleep pattern, reduce stress as much as
possible and stay socially engaged as much as possible. The nutrients of the patient must include
more antioxidants and omega 3 fatty acids (Ferguson & Henshaw, 2015). The patient need to