1. Analyze physiological and psychological responses to illness and treatment modalities.

2. Identify and select appropriate interventions including diagnostic tests and nursing interventions.

Purpose:

Examine case studies related to endocrine and hematologic disorders and answer the assigned questions. This assignment should help refine your clinical/critical thinking skills.

Assignment Description:

Answer the questions related to each of the patients provided. Your answer must follow APA 6th edition format. Submit the answer in the assignment area of your course. This assignment is worth 50 points.

1. A 35 year old male has come to see you because he is urinating, by his estimate, about 8L/day. He is constantly thirsty and drinks as much cold water as he can every day. His sleep is disrupted because of the need to urinate throughout the night. During your assessment, you learn he had several concussions playing college sports. He was recently involved in a car accident in which the airbag deployed and knocked him out. You test his urine and the specific gravity is 1.002. Stat labs reveal a serum sodium (Na+) of 150, and his plasma osmolality is 310 mOsm/kg.

a. What hormonal imbalance does this patient have?

b. Describe the pathophysiology related to the hormonal imbalance you identified.

c. Identify the most common causes of the hormonal imbalance and determine which caused the imbalance in this patient.

2. A 70 year old male patient describes symptoms he has noticed in the past 3 days: easily fatigued, severe shortness of breath, being so weak he sleeps all the time, and bright red blood in the toilet with bowel movements. Your assessment reveals cool skin, pale oral mucosa and conjunctivae, positive hemoccult test, and a Hgb of 5 g/dL. You diagnose him with a gastrointestinal bleed. He will require a blood transfusion. He has Blood Type B.

a. Identify the type of anemia he has.

b. Describe which blood types he can receive safely and why these are compatible with his Type B.

c. Describe the blood types he cannot receive and why they are incompatible with Type B

d. Explain the transfusion reaction if he received incompatible blood products.