Introduction
The patient is Keri’s father, Mr. Joshua Vertigo, who is 82 years old and is living at the back of Keri’s house in a self-contained granny apartment for almost six years since his wife died. Mr. Vertigo does his own activities of daily living or ADL’s like taking a bath, going to the toilet and cleaning the apartment. However, the patient sometimes needs supervision and assistance in order to get the work done properly. To ensure a healthy diet for the patient, the couple (Keri and his husband) prepares his meals. The patient himself prepares his snacks.
Mr. Vertigo’s only means of transport is Keri and her husband. The patient requires some assistance to aid him with his shopping, banking and his weekly trip to the Returned Services League or RSL to catch up with some friends who are his only social contacts.
Mr. Vertigo is suffering from several medical complaints which has considerably complicated his capability to carry out his ADL’s. in 1985, Mr. Vertigo had had a heart attack and after a number of tests, he was found to have atrial fibrillation – an abnormality in the rhythm of the heart (also known as cardiac arrhythmia) which involves two small, upper heart chambers or the atria (Benjamin, et al., 1998). In a normal heart, heartbeats begin after the electricity which is produced in the atria by the sinoatrial node spread through the heart and causes the heart muscle to contract and the blood to pump whereas in atrial fibrillation, the electrical impulses of the sinoatrial node are replaced by disorganized, rapid electrical impulses which causes the irregularity of heartbeats (Greenlee and Vidaillet, 2005). Even though both the heart problems of the patient have no long-term effects, the patient as to take lifetime medication such as Warfarin – to reduce the rate of stroke – and Digoxin, Slow K and Lasix – to assist his cardiac problems.
Aside from the patient’s heart problems, he is also suffering from diabetes. Mr. Vertigo has to inject himself with insulin everyday. Twice a day, the patient takes his blood sugar to adjust the degree of his insulin intake, as well as his dietary necessities. The patient has had diabetes for already thirty years; nevertheless, his diabetes has brought about some problems that have affected his vision. The patient has been diagnosed to have diabetic retinopathy – damage to the retina caused by complications of diabetes mellitus which could eventually lead to blindness (Bradford, 1999).
Application of the Resident Classification Scale (RCS)
Nursing Care Plan
Conclusion
Reference:
Benjamin, E.J., Wolf, P.A., D’Agostino, R.B., Silbershatz, H., Kannel, W.B. & Levy, D. (1998). Impact of atrial fibrillation on the risk of death: the Framingham Heart Study. Circulation, 98 (10), pp. 946-952.
Greenlee, R.T. & Vidaillet, H. (2005). Recent progress in the epidemiology of atrial fibrillation. Curr Opin Cardiol, 20 (1), pp. 7-14.
Bradford, C. (1999). Basic ophthalmology for medical students and primary care residents. 7th edition. San Francisco, California: American Academy of Ophthalmology.
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