Hospice Case Study Essay
Caring for the Hospice Client in the Clinical Setting
Brenda R. Ferguson
November, 2005
The University of South Dakota
Department of Nursing
Abstract
The Author has completed a case study on a patient on a Medical Surgical floor as observed during a clinical rotation. A reader will find complete overview of a woman experiencing primary peritoneal cancer with metastasis who is under the care of hospice. Following a referral from hospice for a thoracentesis the patient is hospitalized. The reader will understand priority nursing diagnosis for a person with this condition.
Case Study
This paper briefly discusses some of the aspects of caring for an individual with complex health needs. Included are a health history, an overview of the medical management, nursing management and roles in caring for the person.
Assessment and Plan This female patient is seventy two years old, Caucasian, divorced, and living alone on a farm in rural South Dakota. She …show more content…
The patient developed a pneumothorax and received a right chest tube placement. The purpose of the thoracentesis was primarily comfort measures for relief of fluid accumulation and the resulting dyspnea. Therapeutic thoracentesis can commonly cause pneumothorax. (emedicine.com) Pneumothorax is the accumulation of air or gas in the pleural space. (Lewis, Heitkemper, and Dirksen, 2004) This patient’s pneumothorax was treated with a chest tube and monitored with x-rays. Nursing assessment was minimal. Vital signs were assessed every eight hours as well as a head to toe nursing assessment at the same intervals. The patient’s vital signs were consistently within normal limits and all other assessments were not significant. Crackles heard in the right lower lung would be abnormal, however, considering her status it was not
Brenda R. Ferguson
November, 2005
The University of South Dakota
Department of Nursing
Abstract
The Author has completed a case study on a patient on a Medical Surgical floor as observed during a clinical rotation. A reader will find complete overview of a woman experiencing primary peritoneal cancer with metastasis who is under the care of hospice. Following a referral from hospice for a thoracentesis the patient is hospitalized. The reader will understand priority nursing diagnosis for a person with this condition.
Case Study
This paper briefly discusses some of the aspects of caring for an individual with complex health needs. Included are a health history, an overview of the medical management, nursing management and roles in caring for the person.
Assessment and Plan This female patient is seventy two years old, Caucasian, divorced, and living alone on a farm in rural South Dakota. She …show more content…
The patient developed a pneumothorax and received a right chest tube placement. The purpose of the thoracentesis was primarily comfort measures for relief of fluid accumulation and the resulting dyspnea. Therapeutic thoracentesis can commonly cause pneumothorax. (emedicine.com) Pneumothorax is the accumulation of air or gas in the pleural space. (Lewis, Heitkemper, and Dirksen, 2004) This patient’s pneumothorax was treated with a chest tube and monitored with x-rays. Nursing assessment was minimal. Vital signs were assessed every eight hours as well as a head to toe nursing assessment at the same intervals. The patient’s vital signs were consistently within normal limits and all other assessments were not significant. Crackles heard in the right lower lung would be abnormal, however, considering her status it was not