Mrs. J.'s COPD: Swelling, Weight Loss, Cough, Wheezing & More - Essay Sample

Introduction

The clinical manifestations of health conditions that either be subjective or objective depending on whether one looks at them from the perspective of the patient or the physician. In this case, Mrs. J had the chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. Its manifestations include swelling in legs and ankles, unwanted weight loss, lack of energy, chronic cough with mucus, chest tightness, wheezing and shortness in breath. In the case of Mrs. J. shortness in breathe manifests when he asks the doctor if she is going to die despite not experiencing any pain. She says that she cannot get enough air. Another symptom of the condition is the lack of energy that a patient experiences. This manifests when she says that she cannot eat by herself because she is exhausted.

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When the patient arrived at the hospital, she was given six medication and oxygen. The interventions were justified because of the symptoms that she displayed on arrival. First, she was experiencing shortness of breath meaning that she could not enough air thus did not get enough oxygen To remedy this situation, the amount of oxygen needed to be increased. This is the only way to help a patient get more oxygen in the body. Lasix is a drug used to treat water retention so that instead of a patient passing out water, he or she passes out salts. It is used for high blood pressure, kidney disorder, liver disease or heart failure. The symptoms that Mrs. J manifested are similar to those manifested by the conditions that Lasix is used for. Vasotec is another drug given to the patient and is used to treat high blood pressure, and heart failure (Semigran & Shin, 2013). It also treats heart disorder where the lower ventricles are unable to properly pump blood. Morphine is used to relieve patients of pain. This medication was not required by the patient because the patient was not in any pain. She was only experiencing difficulty in breathing. Morphine is harmful to people breathing difficulties. HFA Pro Air is a medication used to treat bronchospasm. It is a bronchodilator and is used in the treatment of reversible obstructive disease. However, in this case, it was used to reduce the discomfort experienced by the patient so that she could relax and let oxygen reach the body to prevent an occurrence of heart failure.

The conditions that can lead to heart failure include high blood pressure, abnormal heart valves disease, and coronary heart disease, past heart attacks (Watson & Zibadi, 2018). Coronary heart disease is caused by cholesterol buildup in the blood vessels and can be treated by calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, aspirin, and cholesterol modifying medications among others. A heart attack takes place when the blood vessels that supply blood to the heart's circulation system gets blocked such that the muscles of the heart do not get enough blood, oxygen, and nutrients thus resulting in the damage of the tissues. The damaged part results in the weakening of the heart as it can no longer pump as it used to. The medications for this condition include blood-thinning medications, antiplatelet agents, thrombolytics, aspirin, ACE blockers, and beta-blocker among others. High blood pressure is a condition that is caused by blood that pumps too fast (Watson & Zibadi, 2018). If the speed of blood in the blood vessels is high the heart may be required to pump hard to keep up with the pressure. The increased pumping may the heart larger and weaker than before. The treatments for this condition include vasodilator, calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, and ACE inhibitors among others. Most of the drugs and treatment for the different heart conditions are similar.

The problem of drug interaction in the body especially of the elderly population can be prevented or controlled in four ways. The first one is involving a pharmacist in the medications of the patient. If patients obtain all their drugs that are both prescription and non-prescription form the same pharmacist, the pharmacist can advise them if they take redundant drugs or drugs that are in the same class. The second method is engaging with the pharmacist. Now that the patients have agreed to get their medications from the same pharmacist, the pharmacist creates a record of all drugs that a patient is taking and shares it with all the caregivers of the elderly patients. If a prescription medication is discontinued, a nurse sends a notification to the pharmacist. Another intervention is using prescription software in the right way. Inappropriate use of computers for medical prescription results in the prescription of multiple drugs that are substitutes (Watson & Zibadi, 2018). The software used should be easy to understand and use. It should create alerts when medications are wrongly prescribed. The alerts themselves should be simple enough so that no nurse will ignore them.

The problem that Mrs. J is currently is tobacco addiction. Given the state of her health, smoking tobacco is dangerous it may lead to further complications in the lungs. Tobacco smoke fills the lungs and with her unable to breathe properly, she could suffer from lack of oxygen in the body. To treat her she needs treatment by rehabilitation. Rehabilitation is a four-stage process that takes between a few weeks to a few months.

References

Semigran, M., & Shin, J. T. (2013). Heart failure. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Watson, R. R., & Zibadi, S. (2018). Lifestyle in heart health and disease. London: Elsevier.