need help forming a priority nursing diagnosis

[ron3000]

I am having some difficulty trying to figure out what the different nursing diagnosis for my patient can be and what would be the most priority diagnosis.

This case study is of a 50 year old male who is admitted into the hospital with a high fever. He was just diagnosed with having Grave's disease. He reports that he has just been fired because he has been having difficulty dealing with the stress of the job. He says that feels fatigued, has been experiencing unintentional weightloss, insomnia,plapitations, and heat intolerance. After physical examination: the doctor writes that he has a fever of 104F, BP 151/79, 118 pulse, and respiratory rate of 24, has hot moist skin, fine tremors of the hands,4+ deep tendon reflexes & muscle strength of 1-2.

I am still new at this, and have been struggling at trying to understand how to figure out what is the priority and next priority of nursing diagnosis. i hope someone can help me out...im stressing out!

[twentytenRN]

I think you need to start by breaking apart your patient's diagnosis of Graves disease and understanding how it manifests within the body (pathophysiology) and complications of the disease. Then you can start to understand what symptoms are correlating that your patient is exhibiting.

Once you do that, then you can get together a few of YOUR ideas on what the nursing dx should or could be and then post them here for critique/advice. You'll get more help that way. People here don't like to just shell out the info and do all the thinking and research for you.

[ron3000]

thanks twentytenrn! ill look at the patho and figure out what sounds good!

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Remember your ABCs and Maslow's to assist you when formulating priority diagnoses as well.

[DayDreamin ER CRNP]

Both of the above are GREAT answers. We were always told to remember the ABCs, Maslow's and to be mindful of the patho of any disease for a dx. In my opinion, knowing the patho of a disease has been key to the majority of my classes so far.

m

[twentytenRN]

thanks twentytenrn! ill look at the patho and figure out what sounds good!

Let us know what you come up with. If I may suggest, you might want to consider getting this book, or one similar as it is tremendously helpful in getting ideas started with nursing dx. The front has an index that you can look up a medical dx and get ideas of what nursing dx could possibly be associated with it. Also includes loads of interventions that you can customize and reword to fit your particular patient.

http://www.amazon.com/Nursing-Diagnosis-Handbook-Evidence-Based-Planning/dp/0323071503/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269027330&sr=1-1