2 Case Study Questions
Chapter 3 Case Studies CASE STUDY #1 During the assessment phase of patient care, you decide to ask the patient, Mr. Martinez, several questions to determine his level of health literacy. 1. How often do you find it challenging to fill out medical forms by yourself? Mr. Martinez’s response is “sometimes.” 2. How often do you have problems learning about your medical condition because of difficulty understanding written information? Mr. Martinez’s response is “often.” 3. How often do you have someone (such as a family member, friend, caregiver, or healthcare worker) help you read healthcare materials? Mr. Martinez’s response is “always.” From these responses, does Mr. Martinez indicate low health literacy or adequate health literacy? Based on your knowledge of his level of understanding of health information, how would you explain the following information to him using no medical words? You might consider consulting the CDC’s Plain Language Thesaurus to help you identify low health literacy phrases. Use a search engine to locate the most current version of this thesaurus. • Situation 1: Explain the difference between general anesthesia and local anesthesia to help him make an informed choice for deciding on the type of anesthesia he prefers during treatment. What other information would be included in the informed consent discussion? • Situation 2: Educate Mr. Martinez on the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and the effects of continuing smoking one pack a day while suffering from this disease. • Situation 3: Educate him on the antibiotic therapy (twice-a-day [the health record abbreviation for twice-a-day is “bid”], taken with food), including the adverse effects of being allergic to the medication.
CASE STUDY #2 A statewide health initiative to engage adults in healthier eating is being considered for implementation by your state Department of Health. This initiative must gain the support of the state director of the Department of Health before it moves to the planning stages and is allocated funding. As a healthcare professional in the state, you want to show your support by writing an email message to the director. Construct one or two paragraphs to explain the reason for your support of the statewide healthy eating initiative, provide a rationale for your support (consult the Health People 2020 objectives and leading health indicators at http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/default.aspx), and provide evidence to establish that there is a health problem related to adults being overweight and obese. Be sure to include state-level health statistics, which can be accessed on the state health department’s website.