Overview
This case study will help you practice analyzing a patient record, which will assist you in preparing for the final project. This case will focus specifically on musculoskeletal and integumentary drug treatment.
Prompt
Consider the following scenario: Ms. Craft, age 59, was brought by ambulance to the emergency room because she thought she was dying. She had difficulty breathing, was dizzy if she attempted to sit up, and felt a sense of impending doom. Ms. Craft assumed that she was having a heart attack, and so did the admitting emergency room personnel.
But the case was more complicated. Physical examination showed Ms. Craft to have weakness, malaise, warm skin, and hypotension. Ms. Craft said she felt nauseous. A blood glucose value was really high. Cardiac markers did not show that she was having a heart attack, nor did an EKG. When her history was taken, Ms. Craft said she had not seen a doctor in several years and was unaware that she had diabetes.
Her respirations were deep and rapid—Kussmaul respirations.
In this case, the ER physician diagnosed decompensated diabetes mellitus with metabolic acidosis. These were the medications prescribed:
Oxygen by mask
Hypertonic IV fluids
Insulin orally
Hydrochloric acid solution via IV
In a short paper, the following critical elements must be addressed:
Identify the incorrect medication/drug classification/treatment and explain why it is incorrect.
What drug classification would you use instead? Why?
Provide an example of a generic medication from each drug classification. How would each of the medications/treatments in the scenario act on the patient’s body?
Support your answer with relevant resources.
What to Submit
Your answers to the questions can be in short-answer or bullet-point form when appropriate.
