Subject Code & Title :- NUR353 Nursing
Assessment Type :- Assignment
This assessment task focuses on a complex case about a gentleman (John Smith) who is living with a life limiting illness.You can view the full details about in the section below – see ‘John Smith Case Study Notes’.
NUR353 Nursing Assignment
For this assessment task, you will be required to develop a plan of care for John Smith following his transfer from acute care to home in the community. You are to select two key areas on which to focus and develop your plan of care decisions and/or actions using the highest level of evidence available. These 2 key areas do not necessarily need to be related to each other.
For your two key areas please choose: 1. a physical symptom in which a medication is commonly used to help decrease symptomsn(ie pharmacological intervention) and 2. a psychosocial aspect of care (non-pharmacological intervention)
You will need to incorporate selected research articles into your plan while incorporating applicable pathophysiology and pharmacology into your discussion.
NUR353 Nursing Assignment
John Smith Case Study Notes
Patient name: John Smith
Age: 58
Next of Kin: Susan Smith (wife). John has a daughter (Jane, 31) who lives in Los Angeles.
Consultant: Dr Parry.
Diagnosis: Stage IV Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer with bone and liver metastases. Diagnosed March 2017.
Previously treated with chemotherapy and palliative radiotherapy.
John is a 58-year old male with advanced lung cancer. He has been an inpatient on Medical Ward 2 for five days. You are the nurse responsible for his care. John was admitted initially for treatment of a chest infection and symptom management of severe back pain and right-sided abdominal pain.
NUR353 Nursing Assignment
On admission he was commenced on IV antibiotics for his chest infection and was reviewed by the palliative care nurse specialist who increased the dose of his analgesics for pain control. Since admission, John’s condition has progressively worsened and he is now in the deteriorating palliative care phase of his illness. John and Susan have spoken at length with medical and nursing staff about his wishes for end-of-life care. John has expressed his wish to go home with a package of care designed to enable John to die at home and to support Susan and Jane. Their daughter Jane is on her way home from Los Angeles and is hoping to arrive by the end of the week. An initial clinical assessment was conducted by the consulting palliative care nurse who visited John on the medical ward. This information is to be used in the referral to the community palliative care nursing team.
NUR353 Nursing Assignment
His wife is anxious about John’s breathing and if it will worsen. She also wants to know how long John might have left to live as she is anxious their daughter Jane could miss saying goodbye to her father. John was commenced on a syringe driver of hydromor phone 20 mg and midazolam 10 mg to help manage hissymptoms.
His last vital signs were taken at 0800 today:
BP: 114/58 mm Hg
HR: 90 bpm
RR: 20 bpm
Temp: 35.8
SpO2: 94%
Hydromor phone 20 mg + midazolam 10 mg mixed in a syringe driver for pain/symptom management 24-hours.
Movical 2 sachet PO daily
Midazolam 5 mg sub cut 4 hourly PRN anxiety/agitation/breathlessness
Coloxy and Senna 2 tabs tds PRN constipation
Micro lax enema nocte.
NUR353 Nursing Assignment
Task format:
Task length: 1500 words (40% of the final grade for this unit).
This is to be written in essay format. You may use headings if you wish (which are not included in the overall word count).
Refer to the unit outline for the task assessment due date.
There is a marking rubric for this assessment task. You are strongly encouraged to review the rubric before completing your submission.