Case study

Case Study Assignment Instructions

Purpose

As you are learning this semester, the role of the nurse is to integrate and apply knowledge from your general education background, health related sciences, and evidence-based nursing science in the application of the nursing process to the nursing care of patients in the acute care setting.

The nurse uses knowledge from pharmacology, anatomy and physiology, pathophysiology, microbiology, nutrition, psychology, and other sciences to build a plan of care according to the health assessment findings generated by the nurse.

For this assignment, you will use the case study provided.

You will complete an in-depth analysis of the nature of their health alterations, the pathophysiological and psychosocial aspects of their health needs and how the interdisciplinary team contributes to the treatment plan while the patient is in the hospital and as plans for discharge are put into action.

Directions

FIRST, read the information about the case study with the informational questions provided. You need to understand the case study before you can write about it. Research your topic

SECOND, review the patient assessment information. What other assessments might you do in addition to those provided? What findings would you anticipate with this patient?

THIRD you will develop a care plan based on the highest priority problem (1 nursing diagnosis, 1 goal, 3 interventions for each goal, 1 rationale for each intervention and evaluation for each goal).

FOURTH, include selected references for your case study paper/care plan and use APA format. Nothing over 5 years old, and must be peer reviewed articles, journals, books, websites etc…

FIFTH, use the care plan template provided

The Paper

Complete an in-depth analysis reflecting your ability to prepare a case study based on principles derived from pharmacology, pathophysiology, psychology, nutrition, and evidence-based nursing practice guidelines etc…. If you don’t find enough information in the case study that you feel should be included, you may add more information to it. In other words, you can add more as long as it is something pertaining to your case study person and disease process.

Your paper MUST be in APA 7 format!!!

Title page, introduction to the patient, pathophysiology of your disease, patient history (past and present), complete nursing assessment (given information and any additional), diagnostics, labs, and related treatments, a conclusion to the paper, and your references. You can use these as your paragraph headers. Here is a sample of how to write out the assessment section of your paper.

NO ABSTRACT OR FOOTNOTES. You only need to use level one heading in the body of your paper.

References can be from your book, an article, a medical journal etc… but they MUST be no older than 5 years and they must be peer reviewed. If using the internet to pull research you cannot use .com or .net pages, only .org or .edu and you must cite your work. Minimum of 3 references.

CITING YOUR WORK. If you have not learned how to appropriately cite your writings, then you need to get in touch with the library for help. They have a sample paper for you so you can see how to format your professional paper and how to properly cite your work in your paper. There are also great youtube videos on this as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEqRqSsNDjc

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_formatting_and_style_guide/general_format.html

Steps for Writing a Paper

Please see the instructions on how to write a paper. There is more information to help you organize yourself and be successful on this assignment.

Assigned Case Study

Look in canvas under the files section in the class tab. Each student is assigned to a specific disease process. You will work on your paper individually; this is not a group project. Once you find your case study you will need to read about your patient. On the bottom portion of the case study you will see questions regarding the patient. These questions are to guide you to thinking about your patient, their needs, and what should be included in the data for this patient. Do not directly answer them in the paper!!! They are meant to get you thinking! Again, if you need to add more to your data, you can. You can expand on the head to toe assessment, labs and diagnostics that they would receive, etc…

Criteria/Rubric

Case study is specific, analytical, conceptually sound and based on scientific principles and application of knowledge, reflects evidence-based nursing care approaches and science, and is holistic in its approach to understanding the patient and his/her nursing care needs.

Estimated time to complete: 6 hours

PERRLA: pupil equal, round, reactive to light and accommodation. The conjunctivae are

clear and show the normal color - pink over the lower lids and white over the sclera.

Vital signs: 162/84, 124, 36, 102° F (38.9° C), and Spo2 88%. An IV of D5W at 50

mL/hr

Skin: Skin tone is even and consistent with genetic background. Color tan - pink, even

pigmentation, with no suspicious nevi. Warm to touch equal bilaterally, dry, smooth and

even. Turgor good, no lesions. Mucous membranes look smooth and moist. No edema

presents.