preview

The Postoperative Setting: A Case Study

Better Essays

Part 1 In the postoperative setting, anything could happen within a patient’s recovery process. The patient could have anything from adverse reactions, hemorrhaging, pain, infections, or to pulmonary embolisms, etc. This scholarly paper will focus specifically on pulmonary embolisms in the postoperative setting. For examples and explanations throughout this paper, references will be made to the case study of Mrs. Dixon. A pulmonary embolism (PE) by definition is, “the blockage of pulmonary arteries by a thrombus, fat or air embolus, or tumour tissue” (Lewis, et al., 2014). Mrs. Dixon is a seventy-two year old female who had an open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) five days ago. In addition, she is overweight, has poor pain management, currently experiencing trouble breathing and is …show more content…

Keeping in mind the ABC’s, maintaining a clear airway in order for the patient to effectively breathe is most important. Since Mrs. Dixon has crackles up auscultation, it means that the alveoli and capillaries are not exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide, which results in fluid build-up in the alveolus. Another important nursing diagnosis is the risk for bleeding due to her being on an anti-coagulant medication. Anti-coagulant medications impair cells’ ability to clot. Since her body will not be able to clot properly this puts her at risk for bleeding and the nurse has to perform head to toe assessments on the Mrs. Dixon regularly. The final nursing diagnosis is deficient knowledge related to activities to prevent embolism (Ladwig and Ackley, n.d.). The nurse needs to health teach the patient on why she needs to mobilize herself as much as possible in order to prevent the formation of blood clots and improve overall well-being. In order to health teach Mrs. Dixon, the nurse needs to consider the patient’s readiness to

Get Access