Differences in safety of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in patients with osteoarthritis: A case study

This case study discusses osteoarthritis, its causes, symptoms, and differences from rheumatoid arthritis. It also highlights the importance of effective communication and active listening skills for patient-centered care. The study focuses on a patient named Tom who is struggling to achieve his weight loss goal due to his condition and the professionals' lack of empathy and understanding. The study suggests strategies for effective communication and listening skills to help patients feel heard and understood.

Running head: CASE STUDY OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
CASE STUDY OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note:

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CASE STUDY OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
Introduction:
Osteoarthritis is a disorder that is characterized by joint inflammation. It mainly occurs
because of aging, heredity as well as from injury and trauma (Kapoor&Mahomed, 2015).
Swollen joints, joint stiffness, loss of ranges of motion as well as creaking joints are some of the
symptoms (Arden et al., 2014). A patient named Tom is suffering from osteoarthritis. He is quite
upset, as he is not being able to achieve the goal of reduction of 10 kgs of weight set by the
professionals. This assignment will show how the professionals can communicate effectively to
handle the patient and provide him care that satisfies him.
Discussion:
Cartilage is the firm as well as the rubbery material that helps in covering the end portion
of the bones in the normal joints. The main function of this region is the reduction friction in the
joints that serve as shock absorber. This feature of the normal cartilage is seen to come from its
ability of changing the shape when they get compressed. However, in case of osteoarthritis,
cartilage, which remains present in the joints, are seen to become stiff and thereby it loses the
elasticity (Farran et al., 2017). Therefore, it becomes more susceptible to damage and in course
of time, the cartilage may wear away in many areas and this situation decreases the ability of the
cartilage to act as shock absorber. As the cartilage is seen to deteriorate, ligaments and tendons
are seen to stretch causing pain (Arron et al., 2017). In severe conditions, even bones are seen to
rub against each other and this causes pain and suffering to patient.Some of the risk factors that
result in osteoarthritis are the family history of similar disorders, older age, gender with females
being more affected. Other risk factors are having previous injuries, obesity and overweight,
certain occupations, poor posture and many others.

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Both the types of disorder are seen to affect the joints but rheumatoid arthritis is a
autoimmune condition where that of osteoarthritis is a primarily degenerative joint condition. In
the former, the body cannot recognize the soft lining surrounding the joints and consider them as
threats and thereby attacks them resulting in the pain, stiffness as well as inflammation around
the joints. On the other hand, osteoarthritis mainly occurs when the cartilage that occurs as a
cushion to the bones are seen to undergo breakdown (van Waslem et al., 2015). The rheumatoid
arthritis is seen to occur at any age and can affect people from any gender although they are more
common in females. On the other hand, osteoarthritis is seen to be more prevalent in the women
but is mainly seen to occur in the old age unlike the rheumatoid arthritis. The patients suffering
from rheumatoid arthritis develop this condition due to family and heredity issues where parents,
child or siblings also suffer from such disorders (Dejong et al., 2018). On the other hand,
osteoarthritis is also seen to share the same reason but apart from it, many other risk factors are
also present for the later. These are being overweight, gout, joint deformities and even diabetes.
Active listening skill is extremely critical for the development of the effective patient
centered care. This skill is very helpful in the obtaining of the important medical information
from the patient. These skills also help to show the patients that health professional’s care and
this helps in development of result and confidence from the patients. This helps the patient feel
that the nurse is genuinely interested in knowing about this suffering and is not judgmental about
them. Active listening skills also help the nursing professionals by allowing proper clarification
(Solomon et al., 2018). This thereby helps in development of a better understanding of the bigger
picture. Studies have shown that active listening skills help in building the trust between the
client as well as the provider. Trust supports confidence and helps in the facilitation of the
compliance when the health regimen is recommended. In the case study, it is seen that the

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nursing professional who has cared for him has not been empathetic and compassionatetowards
the patient. They had set him a goal that is not achievable easily. Researchers are of the opinion
that patients should be set goals that are easily achievable (Bramhall, 2014). This would motivate
them to comply with the action plan and remain motivated to reach the goals. When the goal is
unachievable, patient tends to lose their motivation, become irritated, disappointed or depressed.
Herein, the patient was set a goal of losing 10 kgs that is not easily achievable. Moreover, the
nurses might have not described the procedures in details, which had made the patient fail in
achieving the objectives. The professionals who have attended him previously might have not
listened to his concerns entirely and would have constantly stated him to calm down and
everything would go well (Perry et al., 2017). These impatient listening skills had irritated him
and had given him no solutions and his concerns were not solved. Therefore, the nursing
professionals who would be attending the patient would need to practice five important skills like
undivided attention, proper body language, timely acknowledgement, non-judgmental attitude
and effective response in the right time. This would make the patient feel that his concerns are
understood properly and that the professionals have genuine interests in knowing about his
concerns. This would help in reducing his agitation and communicating with him in a
compassionate and empathetic way helping to resolve issues and thereby set achievable goals
helping him to lose weight.
One of the most important strategies that need to be applied in order to practice effective
listening skills is maintaining an appropriate body language. Proper body language is very
important while striking up a conversation with the patient and listening to him (Ellis & Abbot,
2018). Nursing professionals need to maintaining proper eye contact and nodding at the correct
times for showing that they are actively engaged in listening to what the patient is stating. While

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CASE STUDY OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
listening to Tom, the professionals avoid crossing of the arms and keeping an open posture for
showing that they are open to communication. The nurses should not show grimace and frowns
as this can discourage the patient from sharing personal information due to embarrassment or he
might feel disrespected or dishonored. Researchers say that often touching hands gently might
help in reduction of anxiety in the patients and encourage them in sharing more details about the
condition (Thistle et al., 2015). The patient naked Tom is highly agitated about his concerns
being not properly heard and solved by the nursing professionals. Therefore, the professional
attending tom now should ensure a direct eye contact as well as compassionate and empathetic
approach and body language and this would help in reducing the anger he has within him.
Another strategy that should be taken up is proper acknowledgement. The nursing professional,
after listening to what Tom had to say, the professional should be paraphrasing his comments
and this would help in verifying her understanding of the situation. Tom is upset as he believes
that no professionals re understanding his concerns that even after maintaining diet, he is not
being able to lose his eight. They are only consoling him but they are not able to understand his
issues. Therefore, getting acknowledgement in this way, will help the nurses to make him
understand that his issues had been understood and any misconceptions have been eliminated
(Bodie et al., 2015). This also helps in validating what the patient is going through and what he is
feeling at that moment. The nurse would then clarify the details of his diet he follows and the
barriers he face in meeting the objectives and others. This would help in developing a better
understanding of what he is feeling and saying and here open-ended questions would help to
elaborate on the key aspects.

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CASE STUDY OF OSTEOARTHRITIS
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, it becomes clear that breakdown of cartilage results in
rubbing of the bones against each other and this results in osteoarthritis. This disorder has many
differences with that of the rheumatoid arthritis and nurses need to know them to identify the
disorder from the different aspects. Often patients coming with such disorders needs to be
effectively communicated about the goals required to overcome the symptoms. Effective
listening skills are extremely important to not only learn the various issue faced by such patients
but also help in reduction of their anxiety and disappointment. Patients meet that professionals
are genuinely interested in their concerns and hence showing acknowledgement of their issues
and maintaining body language in a proper way help in developing therapeutic relation.

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