Nursing Case Studies
Case Study 5
In the process of repositioning Mr. Ramirez, Carla discovers that he has been immobile for quite a long time. This is because of the presence of redness on his left heel as a result of continuous pressure on the heel. Of the five types of discrete nursing knowledge used in the nursing practice, Carla,s personal practice knowledge enabled her to pick out a problem with Mr. Ramirez heel at the when she was repositioning her (Mantzoukas & Jasper, 2008). Through her commendable observational skills, Carla was able to notice the red area on the heel, palpated it and on further went ahead to ask if the patient could move the leg in order to be certain that it was due to pressure and not inflammation. Nurses come into contact with different patients who have different health needs and as such, they need to be prepared so as to succeed in their profession. A nurse is trained to attend to all types of patients during his or her college education. This means that a graduate from an undergraduate school has the capacity to attend to all types of health needs of patients. Through working together and coordinating with other members of the healthcare team, a nurse meets patients with different health needs and this prepares him or her for such future encounters (Mantzoukas & Jasper, 2008).
Case Study 6
Carla’s competencies at each step of the nursing process are quite good and venerable. She demonstrates professionalism in the physical assessment and diagnosis based on evidence, facts and experience. In dealing with the patient, alongside curiosity, Carla also shows independence and confident. Carla is independent in that she is able to assess the patient critically and draw conclusions based on facts without the help or relying on other nurses or physicians. She is also confident with what she already knows and uses it to come up with valid nursing diagnoses.
Case Study 7
Carla did not anticipate or even suspect that Mr. Ramirez who is also her patient had pain at the abdominal region. This is because Ramirez’s main concern was the right leg that was injured and made him immobile. Adaptability is a very important attribute if one is to make a successful nurse. This is because nurses handle a wide array of patients each with varied care needs. These patients have different personalities, and also the hospital environment is quite engaging with emergency situations requiring prompt decisions from the nurse. Being adaptable is one of the most important qualities of an effective nurse (Mantzoukas & Jasper, 2008). I think Carla will move swiftly to take the patient’s vital signs after ensuring that he is as comfortable as possible. Thereafter, she will seek the intervention of the physician responsible for Mr. Ramirez for further medical attention as far as the abdominal pain is concerned.
Case Study 8
Carla’s thought that Mr. Ramirez has pressure developing in his Abdomen is an example of quantitative literacy competency (Paul & Elder, 2006). This type of critical thinking competency involves the understanding, interpretation and formulation of relationships between conventions, numbers, prototypes or occurrences in order to develop a suitable strategy to solve and address a situation. In this case, Carla relates the rapture of liver leading to internal hemorrhage which might have occurred during the accident that injured Ramirez’s leg to the swelling of the painful swelling of the abdomen. Carla’s intellectual standard when he thinks of a possible rapture of the liver with subsequent bleeding is thinking with concepts (Paul & Elder, 2006). This is evident when Carla uses the knowledge and ideas she has to conceptualize a possible problem. She uses the swelling of the abdomen to think of a possible damage to the liver, which ultimately leads to internal bleeding into the abdomen. Carla applied both ward cultural knowledge and procedural knowledge when he decided to call Mr. Ramirez’s physician to intervene and assess the patient (Mantzoukas & Jasper, 2008). I think Carla made the right decision because painful swelling of the abdomen after a traumatic encounter should be treated as an emergency as it can be life-threatening.
References
Mantzoukas, S., & Jasper, M. (2008). Types of nursing knowledge used to guide care of hospitalized patients. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 62(3), 318-326.
Paul, R., & Elder, L. (2006). Critical thinking competency standards. New York: Foundation for Critical Thinking.
