NURS 6051 Assignment: The Nurse Leader as Knowledge Worker

Atherosclerosis is a disease, which builds up inside the arteries. Yet, there are different diseases, which are associated with atherosclerosis disease such as; carotid artery disease, chronic kidney disease, coronary heart disease, heart disease and peripheral artery disease. Therefore, it is very important to know the importance of this disease to prevent other serious diseases.

Knowing the importance and understanding the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis is to better direct the patient. Therefore, my scenario is educate the patient about atherosclerosis disease and to control the risk factors for this disease. Another important fact is to attain a healthy weight, managing and controlling hypertension and diabetes, stop smoking, and be complying with medications to prevent the incidence of atherosclerosis. Before I discuss my patient’s Scenario, I am going to discuss the risk factors of atherosclerosis.

Males have a higher risk of developing atherosclerosis due to the lack of LDL-lowering effect of estrogen (Hammer & McPhee, 2014, p. 309). There are many factors the patient has in his/her scenario, which leads to atherosclerosis’s development and to coronary artery disease. Some of the factors are; the patient’s age and gender. Yet other factors of this disease are modifiable such as; diabetes, health behaviors, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, obesity and sedentary lifestyle.

Patient Scenario

A 70-year-old Caucasian male presented in the emergency room complaining of chest pain for 1 week. The first thing the patient mentions is “I get short of breath and I have this chest pain every time I walk from my kitchen to my backyard”. The patient’s history determines that he has history of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, obesity and he has sedentary lifestyle. Moreover, he smokes cigarettes one pack a day. This has been going for 40 years. He also admits that he is non compliant with his prescribes medications.

Vital signs include:

Blood pressure: 190/110mmHg

Heart rate: 110bpm

Respiratory rate: 22

Oxygen Saturation: 92% on room air

Temperature: 98 F

Pain level of 5/10 intermittent stabbing chest pain radiating to left arm worse with

exertion.

An EKG was ordered and showed non-ST elevation myocardial ischemia. Significant laboratory values include elevated cardiac enzymes with a Troponin of 1.5 ng/mL (normal level: 0.04-0.39ng/mL). A cardiology consult was introduced by the emergency physician. Also, the patient was brought to catheterization laboratory and he was given the medications needed. Another issue was found was that the patient was found to have 75% occlusion on his left main coronary artery. Cardiac stents were placed on the affected arteries. After the procedure, the patient was then admitted to the intensive care unit.

What knowledge might be derived from that data?

The knowledge that will be derived from this data is for the patient’s knowledge on how to take care of him self after the procedures. He will be attending healthcare professionals who will track his healthcare with intensive care unit.

How would a nurse leader use clinical reasoning and judgment in the formation of knowledge from this experience?

From the information provided from the scenario, as a nurse I would understand the what have happened to the patient. the patient was found to have 75% obstruction on his left main coronary artery. Therefore, a cardiac stents were placed on the affected arteries. Also, as a nurse leader I would be working with the patient on educating him and giving him the right care plane where he will follow.

References

American Heart Association (n.d.). Atherosclerosis. Retrieved from http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/Conditions/Cholesterol/AboutCholesterol/Atherosclerosis_UCM_305564_Article.jsp#.Ww9lNEgvxPY

Hammer, G. D., & McPhee, S. J. (2014). Pathophysiology of disease: An introduction to clinical medicine (7th ed). New York, NY: McGraw Hill Education

Huether, S. E., & McCance, K. L. (2017). Alterations of cardiovascular function. In V. L. Brashers (Ed.), Understanding pathophysiology (6th ed., pp. 598-669). St. Louis, MO: Mosby

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. (n.d.). Atherosclerosis. Retrieved from https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health-topics/atherosclerosis