Pneumonia Concept: Infection

Pneumonia – Concept: Infection

Trudy Nichols is 76 years old and currently lives in an assisted living facility with her husband, Charles. They had previously lived 1.5 miles from their eldest daughter (Jennie) but when their care issues became too much for Jennie to assist with/handle, they were forced to move into this facility 16 months ago which is about 15 miles from their daughter and established neighbors/friends. Trudy’s and Charles’ other 3 children live out of state and were of no help to Jennie or their parents.

Charles suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and Trudy is his primary care giver. In her previous residence, Trudy relied upon her neighbors, friends and daughter to help when she needed a break. Now, she feels as though she has no one to turn to as she hesitates to burden the new friends she has met. She is also afraid that if she were to ask for too much help from the facility staff, they would make them relocate to a higher level of care.

Trudy was admitted to your unit with right lower lobe pneumonia and has the following PMH:

. Coronary artery disease . Diabetes Mellitus Type II – diagnosed at age 42 . Depression

o Based on the patient’s story, diagnosis and PMH, what would you expect to find on the assessment of this patient…i.e. what assessment changes may be considered ‘normal changes’ due to disease processes or expected for this patient?

o What are your priorities of care for this patient?

o What do you believe the patient’s priorities of care are?

o What equipment (if any) do you anticipate seeing/needing in the room to care for this patient?

o What labs values would you be concerned about for this patient?

o What medication classifications do you anticipate finding on the MAR?

Developed by Carol Thorn, RN, MS May use with permission for the purposes of nursing education If questions/comments, please contact Carol Thorn at [email protected]