Okay, so I was given a task to discuss which patient would be prioritised when it came to a hip replacement, a middle aged man or an elderly woman. I believe that the man would be prioritised however I'm not sure as I am finding it very difficult to find reason to support my choice. All I can think of is the fact that the man would get a longer usage from the replacement and that the woman could encounter more risks during surgery and healing time due to the fact that she is at a frailer point in her life.
it would be incredibly helpful if anyone could provide me with any more information or correct me if I have anything wrong.
Okay, so I was given a task to discuss which patient would be prioritised when it came to a hip replacement, a middle aged man or an elderly woman. I believe that the man would be prioritised however I'm not sure as I am finding it very difficult to find reason to support my choice. All I can think of is the fact that the man would get a longer usage from the replacement and that the woman could encounter more risks during surgery and healing time due to the fact that she is at a frailer point in her life.
it would be incredibly helpful if anyone could provide me with any more information or correct me if I have anything wrong.
Thank you.
Who says that an elderly woman is necessarily more frail than a middle aged man? What if you're talking about a middle aged man with cystic fibrosis? Or some other comorbidity? If he already needs a total hip at middle age he's probably not in great shape. And also, patients are not prioritized based solely on age and gender. I agree with the others, this is a stupid scenario.
Coming back to the original post, we have seen several newer students with an inaccurate understanding of the word "prioritize," as in, whether it means "needs attention more because pt is at greater risk for problems" or "do (tasks) in chronological order." We had a prolonged argument with one recently about this issue, where the student thought "priority order" meant something related to chronological, and we had the darnedest time trying to explain that it meant "order of importance."
This student (OP) read the question as "who's more important to receive a limited resource first?" and for her own reasons thought it should be the middle-aged male. Most working nurses would say, "Which one of these people is going to need more of my time and attention?" and know immediately that it will be the elderly female due to her increased risk for complications.
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
Coming back to the original post, we have seen several newer students with an inaccurate understanding of the word "prioritize," as in, whether it means "needs attention more because pt is at greater risk for problems" or "do (tasks) in chronological order." We had a prolonged argument with one recently about this issue, where the student thought "priority order" meant something related to chronological, and we had the darnedest time trying to explain that it meant "order of importance."
This student (OP) read the question as "who's more important to receive a limited resource first?" and for her own reasons thought it should be the middle-aged male. Most working nurses would say, "Which one of these people is going to need more of my time and attention?" and know immediately that it will be the elderly female due to her increased risk for complications.
I can't "like" this post enough,thank for lending some clarity to the thread....
JustBeachyNurse, LPN
13,957 Posts
It's all different users. This OP only has 2 names. It's a glitch in the search for the app.