Pneumonia

The relationship between the use of oral care and the occurrence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in critical care patients is very intriguing to me. Since I have started nursing school, I have always had an interest in the trauma area of nursing. In my medical-surgical clinical rotation, I had the opportunity to spend the day working alongside a nurse in the emergency room. Emergency and trauma nursing have always been of interest to me, even before I started nursing school. I ended up…

acute (1); depending on the individual infected. The signs and symptoms are usually broad and can manifest as coughing, chest pain, fever, shorthness of breath, weight loss, and malaise (1,2). In immune-compromised patients, cases can present as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (2) or in more severe cases as meningitis or meningoencephalitis. The symptoms of the latter include fever, headache, increased intracranial pressure, lethargy, coma, personality changes, and memory loss…

According to Schouten et al (2008), sepsis involves the activation of the coagulation cascade coupled with down-regulation of anticoagulation and fibrinolysis. An intricate link between inflammation and coagulation exists within the body (Neligan, 2006). When a pathogen is present in the bloodstream or when tissue injury occurs, an inflammatory response occurs. The response causes a stimulation of the immune system to produce interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis…

p. 2060). This illness can cause grave conditions for some groups such as the elderly, children less than 6 months, patients who are immunosuppressed, or have chronic health conditions. Serious complications can arise from influenza to include pneumonia, meningitis or encephalitis (Hooper, Breathnach, & Iqbal, 2014, p. 95). Fortunately, there is a vaccination for influenza yearly with “60-75% effectiveness in reducing cases in those exposed to strains of viruses included in the vaccine”…

TERMINOLOGY CLINICAL CLARIFICATION • Acute respiratory distress syndrome {ARDS) is a condition of dysfunctional gas exchange {i.e., pulmonary interstitial and alveolar edema progressing to advanced fibrosis) that is characterized by acute onset, bilateral pulmonary infiltrates, severe hypoxia, the absence of evidence of left atrial hypertension, and a significant risk of mortality.25 DIAGNOSIS CLINICAL PRESENTATION • History o The patient may be in present with complaints of acute dyspnea and…

100 Days of Horror with Bordetella Pertussis by Isabella Theamaree Fortun Bordetella pertussis is a fimbriated Gram-negative, pleomorphic, aerobic coccobacillus. It also has a surface associated microcapsule however the role of this is unknown. Bordetella species, in general, grow best at 35° to 37° C. 1 Their growth is fastidious, and this degree of fastidiousness is inversely proportional to its rate of growth.1 Among all Bordetella species, Bordetella pertussis is the most…

10/13/2015 @ 1620. KJ; 24 yo; female; Caucasian; nursing student. Vital signs: BP: 120/72 left arm, sitting down; T: 98.7 ̊ - Oral; P: 68 regular radial; R: 16 unlabored; O2 sat: 98 room air; height: 5’ 8”; weight: 160lbs; BMI: 24.3. General Assessment: Well dressed and groomed, no odor; alert and oriented x 4; affect appropriate for the situation, pleasant; no signs of distress. Overall body structure lean, symmetrical and proportional; sitting upright. 6 piercings above her head; no tattoos.…

Assessment The fact that he is experiencing more symptoms at night suggests that he is experiencing orthopnea. We can rule out emphysema since he has no history of smoking or wheezing and his chest x-ray shows clear lung fields. We can rule out pneumonia and other infections since he has clear nasal discharge and breath sounds so infection is unlikely. Beta blockers that block B2 receptors may cause shortness of breath in asthmatics. Serious side effects of beta blockers include bronchospasms.…

Patient Condition: Amateur astronomer, Olga Bloomfield, is 38 years old with a history of hypertension and smoking. She has been a smoker since she was 18 and in the last 6 months, has experienced shortness of breath during exercise. She reports having a cough for a year which has worsened in the last 3 to 4 months and is now producing phlegm. For the last 20 years, she has had a habit of smoking 1 pack of cigarettes per day. Olga is also currently taking medication for her hypertension which…

CC Mrs. Hoffman is a 57-year-old female here today complaining of a persistent cough. HPI The patient tells me she actually saw Katy Lilly, MD for the same cough back on September 25, 2015. At that point, she had had a cough for about three weeks. She is now going on approximately five weeks with the cough. She describes it has an annoying type of dry cough. She says that the symptoms initially that she had were cold symptoms with a runny nose, stuffy nose, and the cough. The rest of them…