CL, 28, Female, White American
CC: Runny nose, itchy eyes, itchy throat, fullness of ears, and sneezing
HPI: Mrs C.L., a 28-year-old female, came to the hospital and was well until nine days ago when she developed a runny nose, itchy eyes, and her ears felt full. The nasal drainage is clear mucus, and she sneezes all day. The patient reports that the symptoms are seasonal and last about six to eight weeks every spring. She also sneezes all day, her eyes have severe itch, and her throat is usually itchy during these attacks. The ears also pop sometimes, which is quite uncomfortable. The symptoms are often self-limiting, do disappear without intervention, and are recurrent during spring, and she decided to seek treatment this time. The patient claims that colds during the morning and evenings worsen the symptoms. Chlorpheniramine taken provides temporary symptom relief.
Green tea 300ml twice daily
Vitamin C supplement 50 ml daily
Allergies: She is allergic to dust and cold and develops a runny nose, nasal congestion, and sneezes. Allergic to penicillin and develops itchiness and hives. No other known drug or food allergies
PMHx: Diagnosed with severe pneumonia in 8th grade and was admitted for treatment for a week. No surgery or intubation history was performed during the admission. Diagnosed with nephritis five years ago and was admitted for four days during the treatment period. She denies a history of surgery or blood transfusion. Childhood immunizations are up to date. The last tetanus dose was two years ago. Covid-19 vaccine booster was given one year ago. Last flu vaccine seven years ago she was in college.
Soc Hx: Mrs C. L. is a teacher who teaches fourth-grade students at a local school. She loves playing with the children and doubles up as the hockey coach in the school. She also loves bible study and fellowship services. She is married with one 3-year-old child. She lives with her husband and child, with whom they have a good relationship. She denies smoking or alcohol use. She reports using seatbelts when driving, denies participating in extreme sports, and has safety measures at home, such as smoke detectors and a home phone for emergency calls.
Fam Hx: Her paternal grandparents died in a road accident. Her maternal grandfather is an alcoholic, hypertensive, and was recently diagnosed with BPH. Her maternal grandmother is asthmatic. Her maternal uncle is asthmatic. She has three brothers. The eldest brother, Tim, is obese and hypertensive. The other siblings are alive and well
GENERAL: Patient denies weight loss, malaise, fever, or fatigue.
HEENT: Eyes: Reports eye itchiness and denies eye discharge or changes in vision acuity. Ears: Reports popping and fullness of ears. Denies pain, discharge or hearing acuity changes. Nose: Reports a runny nose with clear discharge and occasional sneezing. Throat: Reports an occasionally itchy throat.
SKIN: Denies rash or itching.
CARDIOVASCULAR: Denies chest pain, pressure, discomfort, palpitations, or edema.
RESPIRATORY: Reports mild difficulty in breathing due to nasal congestion. Denies cough or sputum production.
GASTROINTESTINAL: Denies nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, blood in stool, or diarrhea.
GENITOURINARY: Denies urine retention, burning on urination, urine odor or color change, or lower abdominal pain. LMP: 12/18/2023
NEUROLOGICAL: Reports mild headache and denies dizziness, numbness or tingling sensation in limbs. Reports adequate bowel and bladder control.
MUSCULOSKELETAL: Denies muscle, pain, or joint injury, stiffness, pain
HEMATOLOGIC: Denies easy bruising or uncontrollable bleeding
LYMPHATICS: Denies lymph node enlargement or history of splenectomy.
PSYCHIATRIC: Denies depression or anxiety
ENDOCRINOLOGIC: Denies profuse sweating, cold or heat intolerance, polyuria, polyphagia, or polyuria.
ALLERGIES: Reports runny nose, nasal congestion, and sneezing on exposure to dust. Reports hives and skin rashes on exposure to penicillin.
HEENT: Head: Normocephalic, hair evenly distributed, no receding hairline, scalp moist and shiny. Eyes: Erythematous and teary. Ears: No drainage, pain or changes in hearing acuity. Nose: Clear, thin nasal discharge, nasal mucosa boggy, enlarged nasal turbinates, obstructed airway. Throat: Mildly erythematous
Neck: No enlarged lymph nodes, trachea midline, and tonsils non-palpable
Chest: symmetrical rising with breathing in and out. No accessory muscle use in breathing., no rashes or lesions. Lungs clear to auscultation, no crackles or wheezes. Apical pulse 74bpm, S1 and S2 auscultated. No murmurs or gallops
Abdomen: Globular in shape, well hydrated, no scars, lesions or rashes. No organomegaly. Moderate bowel sounds in all abdomen quadrants. No tenderness on light and deep palpation.
Neurological: All cranial nerves intact. Good plantar and knee-jerk reflexes. Good muscle tone on all extremities.
Vitals
Temp: 37.1oC, Blood pressure 132/77, Pulse Rate- 74, RR- 19, SpO2 94%
The strep test is an ideal test for this patient. The strep test is a simple procedure that will help rule out or confirm streptococci infection (Ball et al., 2023). Nasal allergen challenge is a test that can be used to identify the offending allergens and help differentiate between allergic and non-allergic conditions, as Eguiluz-Gracia et al. (2019) support.
Seasonal Allergic Rhinitis: Allergic rhinitis, a condition caused by a reaction to environmental allergens, is the most presumptive diagnosis; the duration of illness, history of allergic attacks, and recurrence of the condition in early spring support the diagnosis. Unlike most upper respiratory tract infections, allergic rhinitis can persist long without management and easily recur. Allergic rhinitis symptoms include a runny nose, nasal stuffiness, itchy nose, watery and itchy eyes, headache, coughing, and an itchy palate, coinciding with the patient’s symptoms (Eguiluz-Gracia et al., 2019).
Non-Allergic Rhinitis: In non-allergic rhinitis, the nasal mucosa is inflamed by not from an allergen cause. The symptoms include nasal congestion, sneezing, runny nose, and a post-nasal drip. A post-nasal drip can precipitate a cough or sore throat. Eguiluz-Gracia et al. (2019) note that non-allergic rhinitis is often chronic and not seasonal. Non-allergic rhinitis causes are unknown and primarily affects individuals above 20 years. Non-allergic rhinitis is often challenging to manage because it lacks a cause and thus can persist for longer than most upper respiratory tract infections (Patel et al., 2020)
Acute nasopharyngitis (Common Cold). The condition is a self-limiting infection lasting 7-10 days. However, a cough that follows untreated cases may last up to four weeks. Common cold often occurs in the colder seasons, and transmissions are higher in winter. Common cold presents with symptoms of nasal stuffiness, cough, mild headache, malaise, fever, sore throat and a runny nose, as Jaume et al. (2020) state. However, common cold symptoms do not last beyond ten days, ruling it out as the primary diagnosis.
Seasonal Hemophilus Influenza (Flu). Hemophilus influenza is a viral whose symptoms last 3-7 days and are severe, warranting medical treatment. Uyeki et al. (2019) note that flu symptoms develop rapidly and are often severe, especially in children, making it difficult to persevere without seeking treatment. An individual can contract the flu anytime, but seasonal transmission is often high in the fall. However, Mrs C.L. has had her symptoms for about nine days. She also reports that these symptoms can last six to eight weeks, ruling out the flu. More so, the flu is also more common in the fall than spring and spring is associated with many environmental changes, including treas blossoming in preparation for spring. These differential diagnoses can help diagnose and treat the client promptly and eliminate recurrences.
Ball, J. W., Dains, J. E., Flynn, J. A., Solomon, B. S., & Stewart, R. W. (2023). Seidel’s guide to physical examination: An interprofessional approach (10th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby. https://www.amazon.com/Seidels-Guide-Physical-Examination-Interprofessional/dp/0323481957
Eguiluz-Gracia, I., Pérez-Sánchez, N., Bogas, G., Campo, P., & Rondón, C. (2019). How to diagnose and treat local allergic rhinitis: a challenge for clinicians. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 8(7), 1062. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm8071062
Jaume, F., Valls-Mateus, M., & Mullol, J. (2020). Common cold and acute rhinosinusitis: up-to-date management in 2020. Current allergy and asthma reports, 20, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11882-020-00917-5
Patel, G. B., Kern, R. C., Bernstein, J. A., Hae-Sim, P., & Peters, A. T. (2020). Current and future treatments of rhinitis and sinusitis. The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: In Practice, 8(5), 1522-1531. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaip.2020.01.031
Uyeki, T. M., Bernstein, H. H., Bradley, J. S., Englund, J. A., File, T. M., Fry, A. M., Gravenstein, S., Hayden, F. G., Harper, S. A., Hirshon, J. M ., Ison, M. G., Johnston, B. L., Knight, S. L., McGeer, A., Riley, L. E., Wolfe, C. R., Alexander, P. E., & Pavia, A. T. (2019). Clinical practice guidelines by the Infectious Diseases Society of America: 2018 update on diagnosis, treatment, chemoprophylaxis, and institutional outbreak management of seasonal influenza. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 68(6), e1-e47. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/ciy866
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Most ear, nose, and throat conditions that arise in non-critical care settings are minor in nature. However, subtle symptoms can sometimes escalate into life-threatening conditions that require prompt assessment and treatment.
Nurses conducting assessments of the ears, nose, and throat must be able to identify the small differences between life-threatening conditions and benign ones. For instance, if a patient with a sore throat and a runny nose also has inflamed lymph nodes, the inflammation is probably due to the pathogen causing the sore throat rather than a case of throat cancer.
With this knowledge and a sufficient patient health history, a nurse would not need to escalate the assessment to a biopsy or an MRI of the lymph nodes but would probably perform a simple strep test.
In this NURS 6512 Assignment 1 Case Study Assignment Assessing the Head, Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat, you consider case studies of abnormal findings from patients in a clinical setting. You determine what history should be collected from the patients, what physical exams and diagnostic tests should be conducted, and formulate a differential diagnosis with several possible conditions.
With regard to the case study you were assigned:
Use the Episodic/Focused SOAP Template and create an episodic/focused note about the patient in the case study to which you were assigned using the episodic/focused note template provided in the 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.
Submit your Assignment.
The patient is a 28-year-old woman who has been experiencing a runny nose and itchy eyes for about nine days. These symptoms typically last for six to eight weeks and occur every spring. Besides the runny nose, she reports having itchy eyes that she feels the urge to scratch, a tickling sensation in her throat, and a feeling of fullness in her ears that sometimes causes them to pop. Last year, she took Claritin with relief. Upon examination, the patient is alert and oriented and has pale nasal mucosa with clear thin secretions and enlarged nasal turbinates that obstruct airway flow, but her lungs are clear. Her tonsils are not enlarged, but her throat is mildly red.
Based on the patient’s symptoms of a runny nose, itchy eyes, and ears that feel full, a few possible diagnostic tests that could be appropriate for this case are listed and justified below.
Based on the patient’s symptoms and the diagnostic tests described above, the following five conditions should be considered in the differential diagnosis:
In sum, the patient in this case study is a 28-year-old woman who is experiencing a runny nose and itchy eyes, which occur every spring and last for six to eight weeks. She also has a tickling sensation in her throat, and her ears feel full and sometimes pop. Possible diagnostic tests for her symptoms include allergy testing, nasal endoscopy, sinus imaging, throat culture, and a complete blood count. Differential diagnoses for her condition include allergic rhinitis, sinusitis, the common cold, influenza, and adenovirus infection.
Emeryk, A., Emeryk-Maksymiuk, J., & Janeczek, K. (2019). New guidelines for the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis. Postepy Dermatologii i Alergologii, 36(3), 255–260. https://doi.org/10.5114/ada.2018.75749
Hammer, G. D., & McPhee, S. J. (2018). Pathophysiology of disease: An introduction to clinical medicine 8E (8th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education. https://www.mheducation.co.uk/ise-pathophysiology-of-disease-an-introduction-to-clinical-medicine-8e-9781260288513-emea#:~:text=The%20goal%20of%20this%20trusted%20text%20is%20to
McCance, K. L., & Huether, S. E. (2019). Pathophysiology: The biologic basis for disease in adults and children (8th ed.). Mosby. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3QgyAgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false
To submit your completed Assignment for review and grading, do the following:
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Name: NURS 6512 Week 5 Assignment 1 Rubric
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The response lists three to five possible conditions for a differential diagnosis of the patient in the assigned case study, with some vagueness and/or inaccuracy in the conditions and/or justification for each.
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Paragraphs make clear points that support well-developed ideas, flow logically, and demonstrate continuity of ideas. Sentences are carefully focused–neither long and rambling nor short and lacking substance NURS 6512 Assignment 1 Case Study Assignment Assessing the Head, Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat. A clear and comprehensive purpose statement and introduction are provided that delineate all required criteria.
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Total Points: 100
Name: NURS 6512 Week 5 Assignment 1 Rubric.
Question 11 pts
You are conducting a preparticipation physical examination for a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome who will be playing basketball. She has slight torticollis and mild ankle clonus. What additional diagnostic testing would be required for her?
Group of answer choices
Cervical spine radiograph
Mini-Mental State Examination
Nerve conduction studies
Visual acuity
Question 21 pts
In the adult, the apical impulse should be most visible when the patient is in what position?
Group of answer choices
Supine
Lithotomy
Right lateral recumbent
Upright
Question 31 pts
Recent unilateral inversion of a previously everted nipple suggests:
Group of answer choices
cancer.
benign breast disease.
pregnancy.
mastitis.
Question 41 pts
Loss of immediate and recent memory with retention of remote memory suggests:
Group of answer choices
attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
impaired judgment.
stupor.
dementia.
Question 51 pts
It is especially important to test for ankle clonus if:
Group of answer choices
deep tendon reflexes are hyperactive.
the patient has a positive Kernig sign.
the Romberg sign is positive.
the patient has peripheral neuropathy.
Question 61 pts
If a patient cannot shrug the shoulders against resistance, which cranial nerve (CN) requires further evaluation?
Group of answer choices
CN I, olfactory
CN V, trigeminal
CN IX, glossopharyngeal
CN XI, spinal accessory
Question 71 pts
A grade IV mitral regurgitation murmur would:
Group of answer choices
be described as a diastolic murmur.
not be expected to have a thrill.
radiate to the axilla.
be heard best at the base.
Question 81 pts
To hear diastolic heart sounds, you should ask patients to:
Group of answer choices
lie on their back.
lie on their left sides.
lie on their right side.
sit up and lean forward.
Question 91 pts
If your patient has nipple discharge, you will most likely need a:
Group of answer choices
Vacutainer tube.
glass slide and fixative.
specimen jar with formaldehyde.
tape strip to test pH.
Question 101 pts
You are examining Mr. S., a 79-year-ol
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