Unconscious Nursing Case Study

Jack, the patient presented through Accident and Emergency to Ward D3, an acute medical ward specialising in respiratory medicine. He was admitted due to an exacerbation of dyspnoea, which was more significant over the last twenty-four hours. The writer met Jack on admission to the ward.

Diabetes is a serious medical condition that can also be a risk factor for the development of many different diseases and conditions including dementia, heart disease, and CVA. Thus, effective management of diabetes is very important. Patient compliance can be difficult to achieve if the person affected with diabetes is not educated about the illness or treatment, has not fully accepted the diagnosis or its severity, will not change habits or believes that the prescribed treatment regime is too difficult or ineffective, has cultural beliefs conflicting with the treatment regime, experiences stressful events, lacks social support, or suffers from psychiatric issues unrelated to diabetes (Gerard, Griffin, & Fitzpatrick, 2010). As one may expect, adequate education programs are essential tools when dealing with diabetics. Solid education will provide the patient with information as well as teaching the necessary skills to manage the disorder. The primary focus of any diabetes education program must be to empower patients as a part of the multidisciplinary team. This team should be focused at integrating diabetes into the lives of the patients and this focus should be based on the decisions made by the patient, otherwise the treatment plan can be looked on as forced (Gerald et al., 2010). Every patient stricken with diabetes has the right to benefit from an education program of this type. First, basic education and facts should be administered directly following the diagnosis of

* Personnel Issues: One of the key barriers to effective interaction for the pre-op nurses is that they are not getting any information from the registrar or the surgeon related to the patients unique circumstances. There is not a communication process in place for the pre-op nurse to actively communicate with the surgeon or his office regarding a patient’s care during their day of surgery. An additional factor in this situation was the pre-op nurse documented the mother’s contact information in her notepad, but not on the

Second, the nurse commences assessment with an evaluation of patient’s airway, breathing, and circulation for any signs of inadequate oxygenation and ventilation. One of the patients’ temperature was 102 F and the physician recommended pain medication (dilaudid) and it was administered instantly. The nurse gets vital signs and compare the result with intraoperative care. The nurse chart vital signs every 5 mins for the next 15mins, every 15mins for the next hour depending on the recovery state of the patient. I also noticed that for diabetic patients, the nurse checks for blood glucose and also compare result with intraoperative care unit result. Third, the nurse assess pain although the patients receive pain medication before surgery. Fourth, the nurse assess surgical site (dressings and drainage). Fifth, the nurse assess neurologic (level of consciousness, orientation, sensory & motor status, pupil size and reaction. Finally, the nurse assess gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, intake of

Copstead, Lee-Ellen, and Jacquelyn Banasik. Pathophysiology. 4th ed. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier Inc., 2010. 212-227. Print.

VASNHS Surgical Specialty Outpatient department has a designated pre-operative management unit that oversees the patients undergoing surgery. The predicaments stem from various guidelines or protocol originating from numerous surgeons and clinics. At present, the pre-operative nurses abide simple pre-op instructions (NPO protocol, medications, what to bring, during the surgery, transportation, cancellation instructions) for the entire Surgical Specialty Outpatient department. Surgical procedures are being canceled due to lack of communications and cancelations of patients prior to surgery date.

“All health care disciplines share a common and primary commitment to serving the patient and working toward the ideal of health for all.” (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, 2014, p. 1) There are many different professional members in the healthcare system. Each of them, have a specific specialty and responsibility to the patient and play an important role in the patient’s overall plan of care. “The scope of health care mandates that health professionals work collaboratively and with other related disciplines. Collaboration emanates from an understanding and appreciation of the roles and contributions that each discipline brings to the care delivery experience.” (American Association of Colleges of

Kaakinen et al (2015) discusses the two types of health care teams that will be involved in the patient’s care: multiprofessional and interprofessional. The multiprofessional model is an older model that does not focus on holistic care. Care is fragmented with an autocratic leader, vertical communication, separate goals of the professionals involved, and families are peripheral to the process (Kaakinen et al., 2015). The preferred model is the interprofessional model emphasizing a team approach, holistic care of the patient, horizontal communication, and involvement of the family (Kaakinen et al., 2015). The nurse should keep this collaborative approach in mind when dealing with any patient case, involving all teams associated with the patient for the best outcome.

An important sub-concept of nursing is interprofessional collaborative practice. Although, all of the sub-concepts relating to the metaparadigms are crucial to nursing practice, I chose to discuss interprofessional collaborative practice because it has influenced me the most and I did not realize how important it was until this course. Interprofessional collaboration implies being educated about other members of the team in order to facilitate collaborative teamwork, which is essential for patient centered care (Osbiston, 2013). Utilizing other professional 's knowledge significantly benefits the patients care and ultimately their health. A patient requires care from various health care professionals as they all have

The delivery of safe, affordable and quality healthcare to clients is an integral part in today`s health care. In order to provide the aforementioned care; inter-professional (IP) collaboration of the health care members is essential. The need for IP collaboration has been identified by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the federal government, the Department of Health and Human Services. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) has identified the IP collaboration as an essential element of nursing education in the AACN Essential Series (Messer, n.d.). Evidence suggests that the collaboration among health professionals has been associated positively with patient outcomes in the operating room, the emergency

In the early 2000s, NPs were introduced in a surgical unit in Sweden to help reinforce knowledge, strengthen interpersonal collaboration, and improve patient safety and quality of care. For this study, eight graduates from a new NP program in a university in Sweden participated in initial and follow-up interviews regarding their transition into new NP roles in a surgical unit. The curriculum’s theoretical framework based its learning plan from the Nordic model of Advanced Practice Nurses (APN). Additionally, the participants attended a 10-week NP program in the United States to understand the level of knowledge, the scope of practice, and the competencies associated with the role. Moreover, video conferences and visits from American collaborators

slim, there have been cases of people using this disease as a weapon to purposely cause harm to people.

A surgical nurse is responsible for monitoring and ensuring quality healthcare for a patient following surgery. Assessment, diagnosis, planning, intervention, and outcome evaluation are inherent in the post operative nurse’s role with the aim of a successful recovery for the patient. The appropriate provision of care is integral for prevention of complications that can arise from the anaesthesia or the surgical procedure. Whilst complications are common at least half of all complications are preventable (Haynes et al., 2009). The foundations of Mrs Hilton’s nursing plan are to ensure that any post surgery complications are circumvented. My role as Mrs Hilton’s surgical nurse will involve coupling my knowledge and the professional

In the surgery department, I work as a circulator, scrub nurse, and a charge nurse. Using these different approaches, ideals, and standards of care are often needed and applied to my assessments. Being compassionate, respectful and honest to patients is a required principle our hospital expects in caring for each

The model is guided and standardized by the Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS) consisting of a variation of elements such as nursing diagnosis, interventions, and outcomes (King and Sapnas, 2007) assisting nurses to utilize evidence-based practice in providing, safe, efficient patient care. The primary goal is to optimize the patient’s surgical outcome using evidence-based best practice measures in order to provide safe and effective patient care (See Appendix A).