Holistic Health Assessment - Case Study Example

Download file to see previous pages These questions may be more related to spirituality and the affective domain rather than questions about the physical problem she is having.
More will be discussed about this in the section dealing with pathophysiology. For now, one will focus on the rest of her symptoms.
The dry cough and sob indicates that her throat was severely close to closing up. Thus, she needed to go to the hospital in order to clear her airway thoroughly so she could breathe.
The patient is not able to talk. This is problematic since the seasoned nurse knows that as long as one is able to talk, one is able to breathe well.
However, if someone cannot talk, this is an indication that he or she can no longer breathe. This is because one needs to be able to breathe to talk.
The patient's respiratory rate is very low, at 35 breaths per minute. The average breath rate is about 12 to 13 breaths per minute for an adult.
Thus, having a breath rate of 35 per minute is very unusual and should be looked upon with caution. That is almost like breathing about three times as hard as if the patient were breathing normally.
The fact that the patient is unable to complete a peak flow signifies that her breath is not significant or strong enough in order to get a reading on the peak flow meter. This is not a good sign because it demonstrates the patient's inability to breathe.
The fact that Mary's lips are cyanotic is not a good sign either. This means she is starting to lose oxygen flow to other parts of her body.
Any time one sees that the patient's lips or nails are cyanotic (turning blue), this is a sign that the oxygen that the patient is receiving...
Any time one sees that the patient's lips or nails are cyanotic (turning blue), this is a sign that the oxygen that the patient is receiving is decreased. Thus, if the patient does not receive oxygen in a short amount of time, it could mean certain death for the patient.
Usually the cutoff point for when a patient is doing very terribly with the Pulsox is 87%. However, 89% is approaching that threshold, and it would not have been a good idea to let her breathing get to that point.
With a po2 of 7.8kPa, this indicates that the patient's breathing is disturbed. This means that the patient would be hypoxemic , which means that there is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues (Answers, 2010, p. 1).
A high score on the Co2 indicates that the patient was probably overventilating, which was probably the case at 35 breaths per minute. Additionally, the patient was probably trying desperately to find equilibrium in the pH of her blood.
A high Co2 level also indicates that the patient was probably undergoing some sort of failure with regards to her respiratory system. It comes as no surprise, then, that the patient had to be vented in the ICU.
No other underlying medical problems are known at the moment. ...Download file to see next pagesRead More