Home Visit with Sallie Mae Fisher - Essay Example

Home Visit with Sallie Mae FisherNurse: good Morning, Salle Mae, my name is Jayden Kings and I will be your nurse today. From your history, I can see that you have a history of congestive heart failure, hypertension, and arterial fibrillation. What are the difficulties you are experiencing currently?Sallie Mae: Pleasure to meet you, Jayden Kings. My name is Salle Mae. Currently I am experiencing decline in function of daily activities.Nurse: The decline in function of daily activities is because of the acute medication condition at your age.

It is common for older patients to experience such changes on their functional status after hospitalization. Do you check your weight?Sallie Mae: yes, I check my weight and I have discovered that I have been gaining weight at a very high rate.Nurse: weight gain is an indication that the body is retaining extra fluid, which is common in patients with congestive heart failure (De- Lorgeril, 2005). However, you have to be strict with your diet or monitor your diet closely and ensure that you eliminate salt to prevent the body from retaining too much water.

Whom do you live with?Sallie Mae: I live alone since I am recently widowed and the death of my husband affects me so much. My daughter Thelma Jean lives in town, but she works full time and has family issues of her own therefore she cannot support me as well. Nurse: I am sorry for your loss Sallie. I now understand your frequent hospitalization for the past six months since you were hospitalized four times. From studies carried out it is evident that old patients of your age, have reduced recovery rate if they live alone after discharge.

Family support is very important for you to avoid worsening of the condition. You need home care and support with your situation. I would advise you to join a hospice where your physiological, psychosocial, educational, and spiritual needs will be met. Are you following the discharge instructions carefully?Sallie Mae: Thank you for your advice about the hospice I will think about it and consider it as an option to my healing process. Yes, I am following my discharge instructions carefully but every time I take the medications, I experience nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite.

Some of the prescriptions I was given include oxygen concentrator, dioxin 0.25 mg, lasix 80mg, calan 240mg, zocar mg, minipresss 1 mg, Vasotec 10 mg twice a day, prilosec 20 mg, furosemide 40mg, effexor 37.5 mg, lanoxin 0.125 mg, multi vitamin, ibroprofen 400 mg, Darvocet N 400 mg, and Nitroglycerin.Nurse: That is so good of you, the nausea, vomiting, and loss of appetite are side effects of the prescriptions that you are taking and they will go away with time as you continue taking the medicine.

I have also discovered that you are not fully following instruction since I found you not wearing your home prescribed O2. I therefore advice you to always make sure you follow the instructions carefully to ensure you heal quickly and avoid re-hospitalization.Sallie Mae: yes, I will make sure I always follow the home prescriptions that were given to me.ReferencesDe- Lorgeril, P. (2005). Importance of nutrition in chronic heart failure patients. European HeartJournal, 2215-2217.