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Discussion: NURS 6512 Assessing Neurological Symptoms

Discussion: NURS 6512 Assessing Neurological Symptoms

Discussion NURS 6512 Assessing Neurological Symptoms

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Imagine not being able to form new memories. This is the reality patients with anterograde amnesia face. Although this form of amnesia is rare, it can result from severe brain trauma. Anterograde amnesia demonstrates just how impactful brain disorders can be to a patient’s quality of living. Accurately assessing neurological symptoms is a complex process that involves the analysis of many factors.

In this Discussion, you will consider case studies that describe abnormal findings in patients seen in a clinical setting.

Note: By Day 1 of this week, your Instructor will have assigned you to one of the following specific case studies for this Discussion. Also, your Discussion post should be in the Episodic/Focused SOAP Note format, rather than the traditional narrative style Discussion posting format. Refer to Chapter 2 of the Sullivan text and the Episodic/Focused SOAP Template in the Week 5 Learning Resources for guidance. Remember that all Episodic/Focused SOAP notes have specific data included in every patient case.

Case 1: Headaches

A 20-year-old male complains of experiencing intermittent headaches. The headaches diffuse all over the head, but the greatest intensity and pressure occurs above the eyes and spreads through the nose, cheekbones, and jaw.

Case 2: Numbness and Pain

A 47-year-old obese female complains of pain in her right wrist, with tingling and numbness in the thumb and index and middle fingers for the past 2 weeks. She has been frustrated because the pain causes her to drop her hair-styling tools.

Case 3: Drooping of Face

A 33-year-old female comes to your clinic alarmed about sudden “drooping” on the right side of the face that began this morning. She complains of excessive tearing and drooling on her right side as well.

To prepare:

With regard to the case study you were assigned:

Review this week’s Learning Resources, and consider the insights they provide about the case study.

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Consider what history would be necessary to collect from the patient in the case study you were assigned.

Consider what physical exams and diagnostic tests would be appropriate to gather more information about the patient’s condition. How would the results be used to make a diagnosis?

Identify at least five possible conditions that may be considered in a differential diagnosis for the patient.

Note: Before you submit your initial post, replace the subject line (“Discussion – Week 9”) with “Review of Case Study ___.” Fill in the blank with the number of the case study you were assigned.

By Day 3

Post an episodic/focused note about the patient in the case study to which you were assigned using the episodic/focused note template provided in week 5 resources. Provide evidence from the literature to support diagnostic tests that would be appropriate for each case. List five different possible conditions for the patient’s differential diagnosis and justify why you selected each.

Note: For this Discussion, you are required to complete your initial post before you will be able to view and respond to your colleagues’ postings. Begin by clicking on the “Post to Discussion Question” link and then select “Create Thread” to complete your initial post. Remember, once you click on Submit, you cannot delete or edit your own posts, and you cannot post anonymously. Please check your post carefully before clicking on Submit!

Read a selection of your colleagues’ responses.

By Day 6

Respond to at least two of your colleagues on two different days who were assigned different case studies than you. Analyze the possible conditions from your colleagues’ differential diagnoses. Determine which of the conditions you would reject and why. Identify the most likely condition, and justify your reasoning.

Patient Information:

A.Y, 20 year-old African American male

S.

CC “I have been experiencing intermittent headaches that diffuse all over the head with greatest intensity and pressure above the eyes.”

HPI: The patient came with complaints of intermittent headaches for the last one week. The headaches diffuse all over the head with greatest intensity and pressure above the eyes and spreads through the nose, cheekbones, and jaw. The client reports that analgesics such as acetaminophen provide him with relieve that is not long lasting. The associated symptoms include nausea and photophobia. The severity of pain as reported by the patient was 8/10.

Current Medications: The patient has been using acetaminophen 1 gm TDS for the last four days.

Allergies: The client denied any food, drug, or environmental allergy.

PMHx: The client’s immunization history is up to date.

Soc Hx: The client is a college student undertaking a degree in information technology. He does not smoke or take alcohol. He engages in active physical activity, as he is a member of the university basketball team. His social support comprises of his family members and friends.

Fam Hx: The client denied any chronic illnesses in the family.

ROS:

GENERAL:  The patient appeared well-groomed for the occasion without any signs of malaise or weight loss. He denied fever and chills.

HEENT:  Eyes: The client denied visual loss, blurred vision, double vision or yellow sclerae. He reported photophobia during the episodes of intermittent headaches.

Ears, Nose, Throat:  He denied hearing loss, sneezing, congestion, runny nose or sore throat.

SKIN:  He denied rash, scars, or itching.

CARDIOVASCULAR:  He denied chest pain, chest pressure, chest discomfort, palpitations or edema.

RESPIRATORY:  He denied shortness of breath, difficulty in breathing, cough or sputum.

GASTROINTESTINAL:  Denies anorexia, vomiting or diarrhea. He also denied abdominal pain or blood. He reported nausea during episodes of intermittent headaches.

GENITOURINARY:  He denied burning on urination, increased urinary frequency, or changes in smell and color of urine.

NEUROLOGICAL:  The patient reports intermittent headaches, denies syncope, dizziness, paralysis, numbness, and tingling of the extremities. He also denied changes in bladder and bwel control.

MUSCULOSKELETAL:  The patient denied muscle, back pain, joint pain or stiffness.

HEMATOLOGIC:  He denied anemia, bleeding or bruising.

LYMPHATICS:  He denied enlarged nodes with absence of a history of splenectomy.

PSYCHIATRIC:  He denied history of depression or anxiety.

ENDOCRINOLOGIC:  He denied history of sweating, cold or heat intolerance. He also denied polyuria or polydipsia.

ALLERGIES:  He denied history of asthma, hives, eczema or rhinitis.

O.

Physical exam:

General: The patient appears well groomed, with lack of evidence of weight loss and fatigue

Vitals: Temp 36.7, BP 122/76 P-80, RR 20, SPO2 96,

Head: normocephalic, with no lesions, evidence of trauma, with symmetric facial features. The maxillary and frontal sinuses are tender on palpation.

Ears: The ears are symmetric with absence of ear drainage, loss of balance, and grey tympanic membranes

Eyes: the eyes are symmetric, without jaundice and bleeding. Normal visual acuity

Nose: Absence of nasal flaring, discharge, and septum deviation

Throat: Absence of tonsillitis

Neck: symmetric trachea noted with absence of neck rigidity, swelling, and gross abnormalities of the thyroid

Cardiovascular: presence of S1 and S2, with absence of peripheral edema and advantageous sounds

Gastrointestinal: Absence of abdominal swelling, scars, with normal bowel movements.

Respiratory: Lung sounds clear with absence of advantageous sounds

Neurological: Client is oriented to self, place, time, and events. Pupil reactive to light and equal in size with equal grip in both hands and symmetrical facial features. The self-reported headache is rated at 8/10. There is the presence of intermittent headache, photophobia, and nausea.

Diagnostic results: One of the recommended diagnostic investigations that should be performed for the client is nasal scrapping. Nasal scraping should be performed to obtain a sample for test for esinophils. Radiological investigations are also recommended in case of severe symptoms. The investigations include a head CT scan to detect any abnormalities such as tissue involvement, inflammation of the meninges, and tumors. A MRI may also be done to determine the presence of any abnormality in the brain tissue and soft tissue pathology. Bacterial sinusitis may also be diagnosed by performing sinus aspiration (Iskandar & Triayudi, 2020).

A.

Differential Diagnoses

Sinusitis: The first differential diagnosis for the client in this case study is sinusitis. Sinusitis is a condition characterized by the inflammation of the nasal cavities. The symptoms often last for a period of less than a month. Patients with sinusitis experience symptoms that include frontal headaches with feelings of fullness. Patients also experience other accompanying symptoms that include nausea, vomiting, photophobia, and nasal drainage. The physical assessment findings may reveal tenderness of the sinuses (Iskandar & Triayudi, 2020). The patient in the case study has symptoms that align with this diagnosis, hence, it being the primary diagnosis.

Migraine headache: migraine headache is the secondary diagnosis for the patient in this case study. Patients with migraine headache experience severe, throbbing headache. The accompanying symptoms include photophobia, phonophobia, nausea, and vomiting (Ha & Gonzalez, 2019). This is however a least diagnosis because of the patient experiencing feelings of fullness and involvement of the sinuses.

Allergic rhinitis: The other possible diagnosis for the client is allergic rhinitis. Patients with allergic rhinitis experience symptoms that include headaches, nasal drainage, coughing, sneezing, and pressure on the cheeks and nose (Scadding et al., 2017). Allergic rhinitis is however the least likely diagnosis due to the absence of a history of allergic reaction by the client.

Facial pain syndrome: Facial pain syndrome is the other potential diagnosis for the client in the case study. Facial pain syndrome is attributed to pain affecting the trigeminal nerve. The symptoms associated with it include pain on touching the face, speaking, chewing or brushing teeth (Benoliel & Gaul, 2017). Facial pain syndrome is however the least likely diagnosis due to the absence of pain upon stimulation of the facial muscles.

Acute bacterial pharyngitis: Acute bacterial pharyngitis is the last potential diagnosis for the client. Acute bacterial pharyngitis is attributed to step bacterial infection. Patients experience symptoms that include difficulty in swallowing, headache, chills, and malaise. The patient however does not experience difficulty in swallowing, fever, and chills, hence, acute bacterial pharyngitis not being the primary differential (Harberger & Graber, 2021).

This section is not required for the assignments in this course (NURS 6512) but will be required for future courses.

 

References

Benoliel, R., & Gaul, C. (2017). Persistent idiopathic facial pain. Cephalalgia, 37(7), 680–691. https://doi.org/10.1177/0333102417706349

Ha, H., & Gonzalez, A. (2019). Migraine Headache Prophylaxis. American Family Physician, 99(1), 17–24.

Harberger, S., & Graber, M. (2021). Bacterial Pharyngitis. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK559007/

Iskandar, A., & Triayudi, A. (2020). Early Diagnosis of Sinusitis Using Expert System Methods: Early Diagnosis of Sinusitis Using Expert System Methods. Jurnal Mantik, 4(2), 1231–1236. https://doi.org/10.35335/mantik.Vol4.2020.927.pp1231-1236

Scadding, G. K., Kariyawasam, H. H., Scadding, G., Mirakian, R., Buckley, R. J., Dixon, T., Durham, S. R., Farooque, S., Jones, N., Leech, S., Nasser, S. M., Powell, R., Roberts, G., Rotiroti, G., Simpson, A., Smith, H., & Clark, A. T. (2017). BSACI guideline for the diagnosis and management of allergic and non-allergic rhinitis (Revised Edition 2017; First edition 2007). Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 47(7), 856–889. https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.12953