Nursing Assignment: Exploring Patient's COPD, Heart Failure, and Labs

This nursing assignment analyzes the case of Mr. Patrick, a 78-year-old male with worsening COPD and left-sided heart failure. The assignment examines his lab results, focusing on the relationship between his LDL, HDL, and triglyceride levels and his health conditions, including metabolic syndrome. It also identifies the potential for kidney failure by analyzing his serum sodium, potassium, and calcium levels. The analysis references relevant medical literature to support the conclusions regarding the patient's condition and the physiological impact of his diseases. The assignment highlights the importance of understanding the interconnectedness of various health issues in patient care and diagnosis.

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

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Answer 1
In this case study of Mr. Patrick (78), it was seen that his health condition related to
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder (COPD) and Congestive Heart Disease (CHD) has
worsened and in such conditions, his blood report showed irregular metabolic syndrome. As
per Wang et al. (2015), Dyslipidemia is a health condition, which is observed in majority of
the patients suffering from COPD and CHD and in such situation irregularities in their
triglyceride levels, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein
cholesterol is observed. As per Xuan et al. (2018), while suffering from COPD and CHD,
lipid profiles could be used as an effective measure for the analysis of this complication. With
increased COPD, and left sided heart failure, complication in the circulation of oxygenated
blood occurs and in the process, it causes accumulation of cholesterols in the arteries.
Further, due to other physiological complications related to his emerging health conditions,
related to obesity that caused the metabolic syndrome prominent in his health condition
(Cebron Lipovec et al., 2016). As the patient was unable to perform any physical activity and
increased risk factor of insulin resistance (due to his extreme obesity condition), the
symptoms related to his metabolic syndrome was observed. Similarly, Wang et al. (2015)
mentioned that due to COPD and CHF, the body starts accumulating fluids and in such
condition, the HDL level decreases whereas the LDL levels increases. This is the reason the
patient experienced improper HDL, LDL and TG levels.
Answer 2
As per de Tersant et al. (2018), the primary function of kidney is to filter blood and
extract important extract for effective blood and fluid circulation. Hence, it is important that
the human body has an effective and consistent blood circulation. In this case study, it was
observed that the patient Patrick is suffering from COPD and left heart failure, due to which

2NURSING ASSIGNMENT
his heart is unable to receive the oxygenated blood in his arteries and increasing the chances
of congestive heart failure. In such conditions the blood circulation of his body would be
affected and very less amount of blood would reach his heart and hence, in the absence of
this, kidneys would not be able to conduct its primary function properly and hence, kidney
failure related conditions would occur. In this case, it was also observed that Patrick’s
electrolytic concentration varied from the reference range. The level of sodium and potassium
was found to be increased, whereas decreased amount of calcium was assessed in the fasting
blood test results. As per Reddi (2018), this imbalance in the electrolytic condition could lead
to acute renal failure. While explaining the reason of this aspect the researchers Madiraca and
Hoch (2018) mentioned that in the presence of high sodium concentration in the body, the
primary functioning of the kidneys will alter and the kidney would not be able to remove
adequate amount of water through effective renal functioning. It will increase the blood
pressure slightly and would force the kidney to excrete less amount of water. Both of these
conditions were observed in Mr. Patrick and hence, if there is a secondary organ that could be
damaged due to his physiological complications.

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References
Cebron Lipovec, N., Beijers, R. J., van den Borst, B., Doehner, W., Lainscak, M., & Schols,
A. M. (2016). The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease: a systematic review. COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive
Pulmonary Disease, 13(3), 399-406.
de Tersant, M., Kwon, T., Macher, M. A., Maisin, A., Deschênes, G., & Niel, O. (2018).
Hypernatremia and acute pancreatitis in chronic kidney disease: back to the salt
mines. Answers. Pediatric Nephrology, 33(7), 1157-1158.
Madiraca, J., & Hoch, C. (2018). Electrolyte series: Calcium and phosphorus. Nursing2019
Critical Care, 13(2), 24-31.
Reddi, A. S. (2018). Fluid, Electrolyte and Acid-Base Disorders. Springer.
Wang, J., Yu, W., Gao, M., Zhang, F., Gu, C., Yu, Y., & Wei, Y. (2015). Impact of
obstructive sleep apnea syndrome on endothelial function, arterial stiffening, and
serum inflammatory markers: an updated meta‐analysis and metaregression of 18
studies. Journal of the American heart association, 4(11), e002454.
Xuan, L., Han, F., Gong, L., Lv, Y., Wan, Z., Liu, H., ... & Liu, L. (2018). Association
between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and serum lipid levels: a meta-
analysis. Lipids in health and disease, 17(1), 263.