Seeking suggestions information to include in case study!

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I need suggestions.....which specific information should be included in cardiac case study? Having trouble organizing the important points starting from patient history without getting too wordy or writing too much information.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Tell us what you already have and we'll help. But we won't do your homework for you.

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Well a case study is usually used to help people problem solve and try to figure out different things from the information given, such as nursing diagnosis, lab value deviations, ect. Since you are writing it, you'll want to given some information but not the whole lot. You want someone else to try and figure out what are some possible things that are going wrong or right and what they should do about it.

If that helps at all. I have to go along with emtb2rn, in that I cannot do your homework.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Welcome to AN! The largest online nursing community!

We are happy to help with homework but we ask that you show us what you have first. Case studies do include a TON of information. To be better able to help you, what semester are you in right now?

The basics......for ALL case studies.....what you need to do is organize the paper by following the 5 steps of the nursing process. The entire thing is then presented, of course, in an essay format. These are the five steps of the nursing process used for care planning. The biggest part of this paper will be the assessment. This is a collaboration with a dear member Daytonite (RIP)

  1. Assessment (collect data from medical record, do a physical assessment of the patient, assess ADL's, look up information about your patient's medical diseases/conditions to learn about the signs and symptoms and pathophysiology)
    • Knowing the pathophysiology, signs/symptoms, usual tests ordered, and medical treatment for the medical disease or condition that the patient has. This includes knowing about any medical procedures that have been performed on the patient, their expected consequences during the healing phase, and potential complications. If this information is not known, then you need to research and find it.
      • use: medical disease information/treatment/procedures/test reference websites I prefer medscape as on of my go to favorites....Medscape: Medscape Access it requires registration but it is FREE!!!!!!

[*]Reviewing the signs, symptoms and side effects of the medications/treatments that were ordered or that the patient is taking

[*]Data collected from the medical record (information in the doctor's history and physical, information in the doctor's progress notes, test result information, notes by ancillary healthcare providers such as physical therapists and dietitians

[*]A physical assessment of the patient

[*]Assessment of the patient's ability and any assistance they need to accomplish their ADLs (activities of daily living) with the disease/condition that they have

[*]Determination of the patient's problem(s)/nursing diagnosis (make a list of the abnormal assessment data, match your abnormal assessment data to likely nursing diagnoses, decide on the nursing diagnoses to use). It helps to have a book with nursing diagnosis reference information in it. there are a number of ways to acquire this information.

  • Your instructors might have given it to you. NANDA nursing diagnoses 2012-2014
  • you can purchase it directly from Nanda.NANDA nursing diagnosis home page
  • Many authors of care plan and nursing diagnosis books include the NANDA nursing diagnosis information. I use Ackley: Nursing Diagnosis Handbook, 9th Edition and Gulanick: Nursing Care Plans, 7th Edition
  • the NANDA taxonomy and a medical disease cross reference is in the appendix of both Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary and Mosby's medical, nursing, & allied health dictionary
  • always sequence actual nursing problems before potential (risk for) or anticipated problems
  • use Maslow's hierarchy of needs to sequence the diagnoses in order of priority of importance

[*]Planning (write measurable goals/outcomes and nursing interventions)

  • Goals/outcomes are the predicted results of the nursing interventions you will be ordering and performing. They have the following overall effect on the problem:
    • improve the problem or remedy/cure it
    • stabilize it
    • support its deterioration

    [*]How to write goal statements: from a dear contributor Daytonite........see post #157(https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/careplans-help-please-121128-page16.html) on thread https://allnurses.com/general-nursing...se-121128.html

    [*]Interventions are of four types

    • assess/monitor/evaluate/observe (to evaluate the patient's condition)
      • note: be clear that this is assessment as an intervention and not assessment done as part of the initial data collection during step 1.

      [*]care/perform/provide/assist (performing actual patient care)

      [*]teach/educate/instruct/supervise (educating patient or caregiver)

      [*]manage/refer/contact/notify (managing the care on behalf of the patient or caregiver)

[*]Implementation (initiate the care plan)

[*]Evaluation (determine if goals/outcomes have been met)

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Thank you all for your help. I know the information that I want to write in my essay regarding the case study but was not sure how to organize a lot of information about the case study into my essay so I don't end up with a twenty plus page paper. You all helped to make the essay writing easier and in a more easy and organized way. Again, thank you for your assist.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Case studies can be quite long...you're welcome!

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Yep, what Esme said. You might very well find that your classmates are turning in 15-20-page papers...don't think you can't or shouldn't. You can, and you probably should. Seriously. Not the time to be a slacker. And a case study is not an essay-- essays are to develop an argument and defend it. Suggest you google "nursing case studies" and read a few to get a feel for the form.

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