Nursing Assignment: Analyzing Mrs. Bradford's Current Situation

This nursing assignment presents two case studies: Mrs. Solarian and Mrs. Bradford. Mrs. Solarian, an elderly patient with multiple comorbidities including diabetes, hypertension, and cataracts, requires careful management of her medications and lifestyle to prevent further complications. The assignment highlights the importance of monitoring blood sugar levels, providing dietary advice, and addressing her cataract to enable surgery. Mrs. Bradford's case focuses on polypharmacy, where she is taking multiple medications for hypertension, heart disease, and acid reflux. The assignment explores the risks associated with polypharmacy, including the potential for falls and adverse drug reactions, detailing the side effects of each medication. The nurse's role involves assessing the patient's condition, understanding the medication interactions, and developing a care plan to minimize risks and improve the patient's quality of life.

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

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Table of Contents
Question 1- Background..................................................................................................................2
Question 2 - Situation......................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................6

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Question 1- Background
Mrs. Solarian had already suffered from different medical issues and at the same time she
is also a very aged person. She is living alone and also lives in the third floor of a walk up
apartment. Her medical history is showing that she has already suffered from type II diabetes
mellitus, she has also suffered from hyperlipidaemia. She has also suffered from hypertension
and recently cataract has been found in the right eye. She is on medications of perindopril which
she takes to reduce the hypertension. She takes actrapid pen which is used to reduce the Type II
diabetes mellitus and she is also on simvastatin as she is suffering from hyperlipidaemia
(Heerspink et al., 2016). The diseases from which she is suffering are interlinked. The main
disease from which she is suffering is diabetes mellitus, one of the main cause of diabetes
mellitus in hypertension. Those who are suffering from high blood sugar levels face difficulties
is removing the cataracts. At the time of early stage of the disease diabetes she would have
checked the blood sugar levels, if it was check at that time then the disease would not have taken
such severe form. The venous ulcers on the left leg has been managed till now. Currently, she
need to manage so many things to get cured of the diseases. The nurse must check the levels of
blood sugar from time to time, provide the patient with proper diet (Brunström & Carlberg,
2016). The management of the diseases also includes taking medicines to reduce the blood sugar
level. The patient also has cataract in her left eye so at this stage, the priority is to reduce the
blood sugar level otherwise the patient will not be able to go for eye surgery. A person suffering
from high diabetes mellitus cannot undergo any surgery. Her cataract in her eye is a matter of
concern and she can only go for surgery if she is able to reduce the level of her blood sugar level.
A nurse also need to make the patient understand not to do tension without any reason (Yusuf et
al., 2016). She should do proper exercises as planned by the nurse to get cured early and at the

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same time must take the medicines time to time (Kuipers et al., 2016). If the previous medicines
do not work on her any more, then the medicines should be changed. No fatty foods should be
involved in her diet as she is suffering from high cholesterol also.

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Question 2 - Situation
In the current situation, Mrs Bradford is suffering from Polypharmacy. This has happened
because the patient is continuously taking multiple medicines since many years. The patient is in
the medications of lisinopril, frusdemide, aspirin, coloxyl and cenna, nexuim and ibuprofen. She
was suffering from hypertension, gear diseases and acid reflux (Agusti et al., 2016). Because of
all these diseases, she was bound to take all the medicines. Due to the Polypharmacy, there is a
risk of fall. The use of four or more drugs increases the risks of fall of the patient. We have come
to take care of the patient as she is living only with her small children and her husband is also
living outside. Also she has to maintain her business. She is suffering from polypharmacy
because of continuous intake of all these medicines since a long time. She is taking of these
diseases to get cured but all medicines have their specific side effects. Lisinopril is the medicine
which is used to treat high blood pressure (hypertension) for both children above 6 years of age
and also the adults. This drug is considered to be anti-hypersensitive drug. This drug has many
side effects including feeling tired, coughing, diarrhoea, sudden decrease in blood pressure, pain
in chest pain, fatigue, vomit and sudden occurrence of rash and also lowering of potassium level.
The patient is also taking frusemide which is used to reduce the hypertension, high blood
pressure and is also used to treat oedema, certain symptoms of heart diseases and also sometimes
in the kidney failure. The side effects of this drugs are feeling tired, weakness, sudden gain in
weight, drying of hair and skin. The patient is also taking aspirin to reduce the pain that she is
suffering from. The side effects of aspirin is sudden occurrence of rash, formation of
gastrointestinal ulcers, pain in the abdomen, stomach, heartburn, gastritis, headache, bleeding,

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nausea and cramping in the abdomen. The medicines coloxyl and cenna are used to treat the
bowel system, however long term use of these two medicines can stop the bowel system to work
properly. The patient also takes nexium and the side effects of this disease is severe. The most
important side effects of concern is the kidney problems, diarrhoea, fractures in the bones and
lupus erythematosus (Richardson, Percy & Hughes, 2015). The patient also takes ibuprofen to
reduce the pain, but the side effects of this drug increases the risks of heart attacks and strokes.

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References
Agusti, A., Bel, E., Thomas, M., Vogelmeier, C., Brusselle, G., Holgate, S., ... & Beasley, R.
(2016). Treatable traits: toward precision medicine of chronic airway diseases. European
Respiratory Journal, 47(2), 410-419.
Brunström, M., & Carlberg, B. (2016). Effect of antihypertensive treatment at different blood
pressure levels in patients with diabetes mellitus: systematic review and meta-
analyses. Bmj, 352, i717.
Heerspink, H. J., Perkins, B. A., Fitchett, D. H., Husain, M., & Cherney, D. Z. (2016). Sodium
glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitors in the treatment of diabetes mellitus: cardiovascular
and kidney effects, potential mechanisms, and clinical applications. Circulation, 134(10),
752-772.
Kuipers, J., Oosterhuis, J. K., Krijnen, W. P., Dasselaar, J. J., Gaillard, C. A., Westerhuis, R., &
Franssen, C. F. (2016). Prevalence of intradialytic hypotension, clinical symptoms and
nursing interventions-a three-months, prospective study of 3818 haemodialysis
sessions. BMC nephrology, 17(1), 21.
Richardson, C., Percy, M., & Hughes, J. (2015). Nursing therapeutics: teaching student nurses
care, compassion and empathy. Nurse Education Today, 35(5), e1-e5.
Yusuf, S., Bosch, J., Dagenais, G., Zhu, J., Xavier, D., Liu, L., ... & Avezum, A. (2016).
Cholesterol lowering in intermediate-risk persons without cardiovascular disease. New
England Journal of Medicine, 374(21), 2021-2031.