Critical Thinking Assignment Paper: Nursing Diagnosis

CRTICAL THINKING PAPER
By
Professor
Course title
University
Date
Nursing Diagnosis
Mr. Smith’s health condition provides an important scenario of implementing the nursing care process in achieving a positive outcome. The nursing process begins with patient assessment, involving collection of data to establish the patient’s condition. In this process, data collected is in three dimensions, including nursing assessment data, laboratory report, and an account of a patient’s medical history (Taylor, Lillis, Lynn, & LeMone, 2015). The diagnosis is nursing specific, and is termed “nursing diagnosis” if the nurse can exert control to the complications or provide basic treatment (Carpenito, 2013). Nursing provide the definitive treatment for nursing diagnoses and contributes to collaborative problems by monitoring changes in physiological complications: the nurse responds to such changes with “physician-prescribed and nurse-prescribed nursing intervention” (Carpenito, 2013).
Upon admission, Mr. Smith exhibits low-grade fever, fatigue, severe abdominal pain of unknown origin, loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting. The data from physical assessment provides the first pertinent information for appropriate nursing care plan and includes blood pressure of 138/80, high pulse rate of 110, mild fever exhibited by temperature of 100oF, oxygen saturation of 96%, clear lungs devoid of breathing difficulty, liver slightly enlarged and tender to palpation, and mildly yellow cornea. Hepatitis B is usually associated with the above symptoms. The social and family history is also important and pertinent in the nursing process (Carpenito, 2013). Apparently, Mr. Smith utilized illicit injection drugs to fight depression caused by his mother’s death and has not informed his family concerning this. His wife had been ill a week ago from unknown ailment and has not received any treatment; potentially infected too. His history of asthma is also useful in the nursing care plan.
Patient’s actual and potential problems
The yellowing of eyes and enlarged liver shows the patient has jaundice and hepatomegaly respectively (Kahn & Higuera, 2015). The patient has high blood pressure 138/80, hyperthermia exhibited by temperatures of 100oF, and severe abdominal pain. The loss of appetite, nausea, and vomiting could point to a problem of eating disorder. The patient could potentially be suffering from depression and drug addiction due to use of illicit drugs. The social issues also exhibited is social isolation and poor communication between the patient and his family, evidenced by his secrecy in using drugs without his family’s knowledge. The nursing procedure shall entail a patient centered approach to aid the ...