“About 70% of pancreatitis are due to chronic heavy alcohol consumption,” (Gastroenterol, 2013). Alcohol can affect much more than just the liver in a person and chronic alcohol abuse is a major issue in hospitals. In the personal experience of the author about one third of the clinical patients had some sort of history of alcohol abuse and/or in for alcohol detox. This case study is about a patient from the Medical Surgical floor, whose medical diagnosis is acute pancreatitis, but the patient had an underlying diagnosis of chronic alcohol abuse.
Patient Demographic Data During a rotation on the Medical Surgical (Med Surg) unit, the author was assigned a patient, KG, the day after the patient had been admitted and help to care through a lot of acute pain and care. Patient KG is a 52-year-old male, who had no known medication allergies, that presented in the Emergency Department with right upper quadrant and epigastric abdominal pain, rated between seven to nine out of ten, that had been present for three …show more content…
Amylase and lipase are pancreatic enzymes released by the pancreas, carried to the stomach by the common bile duct that helps to digest food in the stomach, (Van Leeuwen, 2015). Often the imagining just shows an enlarged or swollen pancreas or a blockage of the common bile duct. These are all more signs of a mild to moderate pancreatitis, while severe can present with bleeding, pancreatic necrosis, visual changes, changes in diet, and decrease in mental status. (Schub, 2016). The patient can have anywhere from one to any of these different symptoms, and not all patients present the same or have the same perception of each of the signs and
Patient Demographic Data During a rotation on the Medical Surgical (Med Surg) unit, the author was assigned a patient, KG, the day after the patient had been admitted and help to care through a lot of acute pain and care. Patient KG is a 52-year-old male, who had no known medication allergies, that presented in the Emergency Department with right upper quadrant and epigastric abdominal pain, rated between seven to nine out of ten, that had been present for three …show more content…
Amylase and lipase are pancreatic enzymes released by the pancreas, carried to the stomach by the common bile duct that helps to digest food in the stomach, (Van Leeuwen, 2015). Often the imagining just shows an enlarged or swollen pancreas or a blockage of the common bile duct. These are all more signs of a mild to moderate pancreatitis, while severe can present with bleeding, pancreatic necrosis, visual changes, changes in diet, and decrease in mental status. (Schub, 2016). The patient can have anywhere from one to any of these different symptoms, and not all patients present the same or have the same perception of each of the signs and