NURS 6501 Module 2 Assignment: Case Study Analysis

An understanding of the symptoms of alterations in cardiovascular and respiratory systems is a critical step in diagnosis and treatment of many diseases.

For APRNs this understanding can also help educate patients and guide them through their treatment plans.

In this Assignment, you examine a case study and analyze the symptoms presented. You identify the elements that may be factors in the diagnosis, and you explain the implications to patient health.

To prepare:

By Day 1 of this week, you will be assigned to a specific case study scenario for this Case Study Assignment. Please see the “Course Announcements” section of the classroom for your assignment from your Instructor.

Assignment (1- to 2-page case study analysis)

In your Case Study Analysis related to the scenario provided, explain the following:

• The cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary pathophysiologic processes that result in the patient presenting these symptoms.
• Any racial/ethnic variables that may impact physiological functioning.
• How these processes interact to affect the patient.

Also read : NURS 6501 WEEK 7 & WEEK 8

Case Study:

A 55-year-old high school teacher begins experiencing a cough after a parent-teachers conference. Initially it was a mild cough and the teacher thought nothing of it since he had a history of asthma. As he was driving home, the cough became more intense, and he began experiencing chest tightness. He used his rescue inhaler as usual but did not get any relief. Minutes later he began experiencing chest pain, unlike the tightness that he experienced with his asthma. He began to sweat profusely, experience light-headedness and difficulty breathing. He attempted to pull into a park but passed out and struck the curve causing his vehicle to come to a stop. A passerby saw the incident and called 9-1-1. On the scene, the paramedic found the man unconscious. His EKG revealed ST segment elevation in the anterior leads (V3 and V4), his pulse was shallow, and respirations were 10 breaths/min. Upon arrival to the ER, a troponin level was 13ng/l and his CK level was 265 U/L.

 

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Module 2 Assignment: Case Study Analysis Sample

Coronary Heart Disease and Asthma

Cough and chest pains are non-specific symptoms that form majority of complains patients present with, this may arise from cardiopulmonary disorders ranging from minor ailments such as common colds and asthma exacerbations to life threatening conditions such as coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction. APRNs must have adequate knowledge on the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in a wide range of cardiovascular diseases to be able to make prompt diagnoses and implement intervention measures.

Causes of the Symptoms

CAD is a condition in which there is reduced blood supply to the myocardium, due to occlusion of the coronary arteries causing myocardial demand-supply mismatch of oxygen.  Hajar (2017) describes the pathophysiologic mechanisms of this disease as a process of atherosclerosis an inflammatory state of the tunica, that progressively develop to completely cut off blood supply to the heart, other hypothesis is blockage of  coronary artery by atheroma or embolism. Asthma on the other hand is described by Hashmi at el. (2022) as a chronic disease of the air passages characterized by inflammation and narrowing of the airways with increased resistance to air passage and resultant in hypoxia.  It’s evident that the hallmark of the two conditions is reduced oxygen to organs which causes chest pains and a cough in attempt to get more oxygen to the body.

Racial and Ethnic Factors

Racial and ethnicity have a great correlation with socioeconomic status with a disparity of disease prevalence. The study by Muncan at el. (2018) the prevalence of asthma and CAD is high among blacks, Hispanics, and American Indians, and lower among whites and Asian. Socioeconomic status is the key driver of the disparity in morbidity, mortality and complication rates due to low education level, poverty and low accessibility to health programs. Wang at el. (2017) demonstrates the correlation between asthma and CHD as being the hallmark chronic inflammatory changes in both conditions, asthma is marked by airways inflammatory changes while CHD is marked by inflammatory changes in coronary tunica.

 

References

Hajar, R. (2017). Risk factors for coronary artery disease: historical perspectives. Heart views: the official journal of the Gulf Heart Association, 18(3), 109.

Hashmi MF, Tariq M, Cataletto ME. Asthma. [Updated 2022 Feb 16]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK430901/

Muncan, B. (2018). Cardiovascular disease in racial/ethnic minority populations: illness burden and overview of community-based interventions. Public health reviews, 39(1), 1-11. Doi: 10.1186/s40985-018-0109-4

Wang, L., Gao, S., Yu, M., Sheng, Z., & Tan, W. (2017). Association of asthma with coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis of 11 trials. PloS one, 12(6), e0179335. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0179335