Description
A
78-year-old female comes to your office escorted by a neighbor who is a
patient of yours. The neighbor, who has lived next door to the older
woman for years, relates that a week ago the elderly woman’s sister died
and that she had been her caregiver for many years. The neighbor
relates that although she would occasionally see the older woman, she
did not visit the home. At the funeral last week, she noticed that the
woman appeared fatigued, confused, sad, and gaunt in appearance. Later
the neighbor approached the woman, inquired about her health, and
determined that the woman had a very difficult time the past couple of
months, caring alone for her sister until the end when hospice care was
initiated. The neighbor convinced the woman to seek medical care and
today is the first appointment with a provider that this 78-year-old
female has had in 3 years. The older woman states that she is very
fatigued and sad over the loss of her sister. Neither her sister nor the
patient has been married. A distant niece came to the funeral but lives
about 30 miles away. The woman states that she is not taking any
prescription medication and relates no medical problems that she is
aware of being diagnosed.Vital signs: T 97.6°F, HR 98, RR 22, BP 95/60, BMI 21 Chief Complaint: Fatigue and sadness over the death of her older sister.Discuss the following:1) What additional subjective information will you be asking the patient? 2) What additional objective findings would you be examining the patient for? 3) What are the differential diagnoses that you are considering? 4) What laboratory tests will help you rule out some of the differential diagnoses? 5) What screening tools will you select to use on this patient? 6) What is your plan of care? 7) What additional patient teaching may be needed? 8) Will you be looking for a consult?Submission Instructions:Your post should be at least 500 words, formatted and cited
in current APA style with support from at least 2 academic sources.
