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This assessment is designed to measure your ability to identify and prioritise the most important nursing care issues for a client.Two theoretical frameworks underpin your assignment: Miller’s Functional Consequences Theory to identify the influences impacting on the older person and their level of function and
Levett-Jones’ Clinical Reasoning Cycle as the tool to drive the process of identifying and assessing, implementing and evaluating care. Students need to demonstrate how the dignity of the older person is maintained and how the cultural background of the older person is considered, throughout the
process of assessment and care provision. Students are required to review a provided scenario. From this scenario, use the first four steps of the Levett-Jones Clinical
Reasoning Cycle (i.e., considering the patient; collecting cues and information, processing information and identifying problems/issues) to identify three nursing care priorities. A
rationale needs to be provided for each nursing care priority identified )
CLINICAL CYCLE
Setting the priorities is one of the most important tasks for the nurses. However, often the patients have many complex problems and because of it, setting priorities for the nurses becomes quite difficult. Hence, for the nurses it is necessary to have right tools to set priorities and take decisions accordingly (Morton et al. 2017). The current essay deals with analysis on the health issues of a 89 year old patient and setting the nursing priorities, goals and actions for her using the Clinical Reasoning Cycle. The essay also includes discussion on the reflections that the nurse has obtained by undertaking the process.
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Identification of the nursing care priorities is crucial for making the right decisions for the patients. While making the decisions and setting the priorities, the nurses have to keep the patient’s condition in mind, collect and process the information and identify the issues successfully. The Clinical Reasoning Cycle is an effective framework that helps the nurses to assess condition of the patients on basis of collected information and recognize the problem (Hockenberry & Wilson, 2014; Hunter, 2016). In this case, the first four steps of the clinical reasoning cycle are used to set clinical priorities for the patient.
Considering the patient:
The patient, Mrs. Amalie Jones, is an 89 year old lady, who is having a deteriorating health condition. The mobility of the patient is decreasing due to joint pains, stiffness, swallowed feet, reduced vision and the occasional dizziness. The patient previously used to be highly active and lots of social activities. Due to lack of mobility, she has to restrict the social activities also. However, the lack of mobility may have prevented from carrying out regular activities as well For example, in cupboard of the patient, only the soup cans and baked beans. It indicates that the patient is not getting proper nutrition. In addition, the patient has some other health issues too including constipation. Although the patient has to take medicines regularly, it seems that she has a tendency of skipping medicine as well. The tendency of skipping medicine is increasing the risk of getting her health issues intensified as well. The patient has a son and daughter who keep contact regularly with her, but she lives in her house alone. The reduced mobility and lack of assistance in house may increase the risk of falling or slipping for her.
Collecting the information:
Amalie recently developed the problem of dry macular degeneration and because of it, she cannot drive right now. The issues like osteoarthritis and rheumatoid is limiting mobility of the patient (Urden et al.2017). As the patient is unable to go outside the home, she is losing physical contacts with her community and friends. As a result, Amalie is becoming socially isolated. However, she wants to lead the active life as before. Because of it, she requires assistance from others. It is found that Amalie does not eat properly and because of it she is reducing the weight.
Processing the information:
The lack of mobility is caused due to the osteoarthritis and rheumatoid the patient had. The issues like osteoarthritis cause joint pain and joint stiffness which can prevent an individual from moving the joints completely (Lehne & Rosenthal, 2014). The Rheumatoid also causes swelling joint and make them stiff which results in limited mobility (Ausserhofer et al.2014). The dry macular degeneration is a disease which affects the central vision of an individual (Carthon et al.2015). The patient has developed the disease and the decrease in her vision can be an effect of it. The decreased vision is also restricting her from carrying out regular activities such as driving and it is also restricting her mobility. The lack of mobility is again preventing her from taking proper food. Proper nutrition helps the individuals to maintain the bodily activities and retain the mass (Brooks-Carthon et al.2016). So, due to lack of nutrition, she is losing weight. The patient has to take Thyroxin on regular basis but she often She is suspected to skip the regular medicines and it can make her health issues more complex. Lack of mobility can limit an individual’s participation in the social life (Bramley & Matiti, 2014). In this case also, lack of mobility is also affecting social life of the patient and making her isolated.
Identification of the issues:
Analysis on the information regarding the patient indicates that there are three problems which are restricting her from having a healthy and active life. Their problems of Amalie are as follow:
• Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid which is causing the loss of mobility
• Lack of nutrition which is causing rapid weight loss
• Dry macular degeneration which is again restricting the social life
Here, the issues such as Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid are chosen are top priority for the nurses.
The Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid can be treated with a well-defined program and the rehabilitation program (Kelly et al.2014). The joints being affected with osteoarthritis requires being immobilized first so that they get enough rest (Dabney & Kalisch, 2015). In the next phase, mobility of the joints is increased through active movements and the passive stretching (Szanton et al.2015). Use of heat, hydrotherapy and laser is often used to improve the condition of joints and as it improves, the professionals encourage active movements of joints (Mauk & Mauk, 2017). In this case, the nurse has to assess the extent of damage to the patient’s joint and can decide the right course of action for her.
Malnutrition and weight loss is another crucial problem that the patient has. The issues related with malnutrition and the weight loss can be treated by making dietary changes, providing the patient with supplements and parental administration if needed. The deficiency of different nutrients causes several symptoms in one’s body (Mauk & Mauk, 2017). So, the nurses, on basis of specific symptoms require making the dietary changes. In case of Amalie, there is a rapid weight loss due to not consumption of proper meals. So, the nurses need to suggest her healthy meals to prevent further weight loss. Providing the supplements is an effective way to replenish the level of nutrients among the patients faster (Kelly et al.2014). For the current patient, Amalie, providing supplements can be a good idea as it will help her to get rid of the malnutrition related problem faster. In some extreme cases of malnutrition, the body of the individual cannot absorb the nutrients taken orally (Mauk & Mauk, 2017). In these cases, the nutrients are directly injected to the body. After assessing Amalie, the nurses have to identify how her body is responding to the dietary change and take decisions about the parental administration.
The Dry macular degeneration can be delayed or prevented by taking the right amount of supplements. The nutritional supplements with a higher dose of anti-oxidants such as Vitamin C, E and beta-carotene can prevent the Dry Macular Degeneration (Kelly et al.2014). The nurses can suggests the right supplements which are rich with the necessary anti-oxidants to delay the problem of decreased vision.
Once all the nursing priorities are determined, implementation of the priorities is necessary. Therefore, after deciding the nursing priorities, the professionals need to set the right goals (Levett-Jones, 2013). Here, goals of the current patient are as follow:
• Managing the rheumatoid and osteoporosis of the patient in such way so that she can move freely within home within 2 months, start participating in social life within 3 months and become increase the participation within 6 months
• Making a dietary plan for the patient so that she starts gaining weight within 1 month and become able to gain the right weight as per her age an height within 2 months
• Providing the patient with right supplements so that her eyesight stops degrading within 3 months
After deciding the goals, the nurses have to set the right action plan for implementation of the goals. The actions for the present patient can be as follow:
Providing the patient with assistance: The patient is suffering from stiff and paining joint. Rest is one of the key elements to ensure recovery from the joint pain. In case of this patient, she lives in her home alone and so, has to carry out all the activities by her. It can be stated that the damaged joints do not get enough rest and it is making the situation worse. Providing the patient with assistance to execute her regular tasks can make her able to move freely and also can ensure extra straining on the joints.
Ensuring three healthy meals for the patient every day: Malnutrition is one of the main issues faced by the patient. Taking healthy meals on regular basis can prevent malnutrition (Lehne & Rosenthal, 2014). To get rid of it, the nurse has to ensure that she is taking three meals which are rich with all the nutritious values every day. However, along with the meals, the nurses can give her suitable supplements also.
Providing the patients with the right combination of supplements to prevent degradation in vision: The Dry macular degeneration can be prevented by taking the supplements enriched with Vitamin E, C, Beta-carotene, Zinc and Copper (Kelly et al.2014). The nurses should provide the patient with such supplements on regular basis to prevent degradation of eye-sight.
The expected outcomes of the goals should be in accordance with the nursing goals. The expected outcomes for Amalie can be –
• Amalie starts doing her regular activities independently at home within 2 months , starts going out of the home within 3 months and start doing her previous activities within 6 months
• Amalie gained at least 50% of the ideal weight she should have at her age within 1 month and becomes fully healthy within 2 months
• Amalie should not develop any new problem related to vision degradation in the next 6 months
The case of Amalie has enriched me with new knowledge. My reflections on her case are –
• Every individual has unique nature and so, their treatments need to be shaped accordingly. Amalie is a patient who wants to have highly active life. So, in her case, I focused on rebuilding her strength so that she can fulfill her goals.
• Participation of patient in the treatment is necessary for enhancing effectiveness of the process. Amalie does not like taking medicines and has tendency to skip those. Although she has been provided with supplements, from the next time I will try to tailor the process as per the patient’s preference, if possible.
The above discussion indicates that the treatment process should make a patient able to lead a happy and healthy life. While treating a patient, treating the symptoms only is not effective. Instead, the nurses should focus on treating the root causes to ensure long term well being of the patient. In case of Amalie also, the actions are taken for improving her quality of life and mitigating the root causes of health issues instead of treating the symptoms only. The study also indicates that involving the patient in the treatment plan is also necessary. Participation and support of the patients help professions to get the best outcomes from their efforts.
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