A person with chronic wound may suffers from a countless of physical and psychological problems that may include physical disability, pain, community needs and psychological distress. Managing these numerous issues require initial help from a well performed primary healthcare system (Krasner, Rodeheaver, Sibbald & Woo, 2012).
This article presents a brief review on Mrs. Josephine Morrow’s health conditions who is admitted to an acute age care. Mrs. Morrow is an 80 years old female admitted for treatment of venous stasis ulcer on her right medial malleolus with medical history of COPD, peripheral arterial disease, deep vein thrombosis and chronic venous insufficiency. Mrs Morrow is on regular diet and takes…show more content… Morrow, clinical manifestations of her co-morbidities, primary health care resources appropriate for managing her conditions, strategies to assist her to meet activities of daily living and an appropriate care plan to meet her care needs. Moreover, this article also enlightens about some suitable health promotion programs, community resources and area of education for Mrs. Morrow after her discharge.
Clinical Assessments of Mrs. Josephine Morrow:
Every patient interaction provides an opportunity for a nurse to perform health assessment and critical examination. This can be undertaken by critical thinking, thorough patient interview, receiving complete history, applying proper examination techniques and through cultural and spiritual assessments. (Estes, Calleja, Theobold, & Harvey, 2012).
Patient’s Medical History Assessment: It is important to assess the background of a patient which may include clinical history, duration/recurrence of diseases, comorbid factors, lifestyle etc. History taking is a key component for nursing assessment because with the help of clinical history a nurse can understand the complexity of a disease process, prepare care priorities and apply suitable interventions. For example, along with many information it was very important to know that Mrs. Morrow is allergic to penicillin, her pre-existing disease conditions COPD, DVT…show more content… Neurovascular assessment is usually done by assessing different aspects like presence of pain, quality of pulse, time to complete capillary refill, skin temperature, and sensation, skin colour and movement. It is important to perform neurovascular assessment for Mrs Morrow considering her disease condition like peripheral arterial disease, deep vein thrombosis, venous stasis ulcer and chronic venous insufficiency.
Respiratory Assessment: Respiratory assessment may include inspection for any sign of decreased blood oxygen level, laboured breathing, percussion to identify presence of fluid, auscultation of lung to check if there is any abnormalities in breath sound, respiration rate, SpO2 etc. As Mrs. Josephine Morrow has got COPD and she takes medicine for her lung, it is necessary to assess her respiratory condition.
Skin Assessment: It is common to observe difficult to treat skin problems with chronic venous insufficiency. Moreover, Mrs. Morrow scored 16 in Braden scale which means she is in high risk of developing pressure ulcer. Therefore it is important assess her skin and apply preventive measure for skin
