Critically discuss appropriate nursing management of the patient during this episodic health alteration.

Case Study: Lucy Liu HISTORY

Lucy Liu is 19yrs old. She is at university and lives alone in student accommodation.

She has no close relatives living in Australia. Lucy likes to socialise with her friends on a Friday night. She reports that she “sometimes drinks too much alcohol” and takes “party drugs”. She has a part-time job, 3 evenings a week, at a supermarket restocking shelves.

Lucy presented to the emergency department (ED) with acute appendicitis. Her symptoms included severe nausea and vomiting, severe pain, tenderness and guarding in the right lower quadrant of her abdomen and a temperature of 38.9oC. She was transferred to the operating theatre and underwent an emergency laparoscopic appendicectomy.

After 2 hours in the post-anaesthetic recovery room (PARU) and an uneventful recovery, Lucy was transferred to the ward, where you have been allocated to her care.

PRESENTATION TO THE WARD:

On return to the ward Lucy’s observations are as follows:

Pain 8/10
Respirations 26
BP 90/50
Pulse 130
Temperature remains 38.9oC.
It is planned for Lucy to be discharged two days post-operatively.

Questions to be addressed – In relation to Lucy Liu:

Discuss the factors that may have contributed to the patient’s presenting episodic health alteration.

Critically discuss appropriate nursing management of the patient during this episodic health alteration.

Explain the role(s) of the key member(s) of the interdisciplinary health care team that you would involve in the care of your patient, and provide justification for their involvement.