ACUTE KIDNEY INJURY – Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is currently recognized as the preferred nomenclature for the clinical disorder formerly called Acute Renal Failure(ARF).This transition in terminology was meant to emphasize that the spectrum of the disease is much broader than a subset of patients who experience failure and require dialysis support .This nomenclature explains that renal failure occur as a continuum 1. AKIN recently defined AKI as “ functional or structural abnormalities or…
Identifying the Problem After working in both Nursing Home and the Acute Care Settings, I personally have noticed the big difference in the care of the Alzheimer’s disease patients and the elderly without AD. Caring for Alzheimer`s disease patients is more challenging for both the caregivers and health care providers. It is as stressful for both the patients and caregivers as they try to maintain their cognitive intact and as caregivers strive to make the patients feel as normal as…
This patient is a 70-year-old male who required inpatient hospitalization due to concerns for acute exacerbation of congestive heart failure. He was presented to the emergency department due to the complaints of pain in the sub sternal/epigastric region accompanied by productive cough which worsen by movements. The pain was described as mild to moderate, constant and dull. His past medical history was suggestive of cardiomyopathy and hypertension. It was noted that he underwent cardiac…
When scrolling through Facebook during vacation, I stumbled upon this article claiming that unprecedented steps have been taken to improve cancer therapies. For years, the topic of cancer and the treatments for the disease has always interested me and the astonishing exclamation that “more than half of terminally ill blood cancer patients experienced complete remission in early clinical trials” in the article’s subtitle just seemed to heighten my interest even further. However, this not the only…
Mrs. Smith is a 55 year old female who presented to the ED via LEO with acute psychosis. She was found in the street by LEO trying to jump in front of on-coming traffic. At the time of the assessment Mrs. Smith presents calm with rambling speech. She states the police are killing me, I'll try to go head and die for you. She denies suicidal ideation, homicidal ideation, and symptoms of psychosis. However, does appear to be responding to internal stimuli.12/8/16 MCM with LEO for suspected…
essential “non-technical” skill that nurses must learn in order to provide proficient care in an emergency situation. In this paper I will analyze why teamwork is necessary in order to competently care for a patient experiencing the onset of acute respiratory failure. Acute respiratory failure (ARF) is defined as the failure in the gas exchange of the surface of the lungs and/or mechanical failure which involves either the functioning of the respiratory muscles, the receptors in the central…
Acute pain generally has a rapid onset and varies in intensity from mild to severe. (Taylor, 2014) While pain is typically looked at as a subjective symptom, Tighe believes that pain is more closely related to the experience of hunger or nausea. (Tighe, 2015) Whether it be looked at as a subjective symptom or an experience similar to hunger, it can be quite difficult to assess acute pain. So we have many tools to assess this pain. Since acute pain has a rapid onset, it is different…
Acute coronary syndromes is an umbrella term that includes several cardiac ischemic events.1 The broad term of ACS entails ST segment elevation-ACS (STE-ACS) and non-ST segment elevation ACS (NSTE-ACS) based on the initial electrocardio- gram(ECG) finding.4 ACS usually occurs as a sudden reduction in blood flow to the coronary arteries due to rupture of the atherosclerotic plaque, which subsequently leads to myocardial ischemia or/and infarction.1, 2, 3 The American Heart Association (AHA)…
During this Grand Round Dr. Anderson started by presenting statistical data that showed the incidence and mortality of acute pancreatitis in the ICU. Acute pancreatitis (AC) is about the 2nd- 3rd most common GI disorder that receive admission in ICU in the US and 10-15% of these ones develop a severe stage of the disease with an increase in mortality up to 30%. In the US, it is expended about one billion dollar in health care to support/treat AC patients. From these cases of AC, 45% are…
According to a study, the general population is affected around 15 to 25 percent with acute or chronic urticaria in their life (30). The most common incidence of acute urticaria has been noted higher in people with atrophy and in teenagers and young adults (31), Few cases have been reported to develop both conditions of angioedema and urticaria, occurring simultaneously. A study has been noted that approximately half of subjects have both urticaria and angioedema, Whist 40% had been noted with…