Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care Assignment Paper

Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care Assignment Paper

Please respond to the below discussion post, no title page needed

An initial assessment for complaints of the 70-year-old Parkinson’s patient complaining of sore throat and headache pain is to rule out emergent conditions. Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative neurological condition involving motor impairments. The patient’s swallowing ability, complaints of drooling, and being able to talk are critical to rule out an acute condition (Dains & Scheibel, 2020). Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care Assignment Paper

A thorough physical assessment of the patient’s throat, inspecting the mouth, buccal and nasal mucosa, palpation of cervical lymph nodes, and lung auscultation are essential. Diagnostic testing may include rapid screening testing and throat cultures (Dains & Scheibel, 2020).

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Assessment of the patient’s headache will include: when the pain began, any prior episodes of this type of headache, headache pain severity, any recent trauma, pain location (bilateral vs. unilateral), frontal, temporal, parietal, or occipital area of the head, aggravating or relieving factors, duration and frequency of pain, any accompanying visual disturbances noted, and health history. Also, any accompanying fever, cough, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, immunization status, medication history, and close contact with other sick individuals are pertinent for establishing differential diagnoses. (Dain & Scheibel, 2020).

Assessing the function of cranial nerves, neck inspection, motor strength, coordination, gait, and balance will assist in evaluating the patient’s Parkinson’s disease and his complaint of headache pain (Dain & Scheibel, 2020). If further testing is indicated, a CT scan of the head and CBC could be beneficial for diagnosing (Dain & Scheibel, 2020). Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care Assignment Paper

Treatment for this patient will rely heavily on subjective, objective, and diagnostic testing results. The patient’s medication history is significant for Sinemet (carbidopa/levodopa). Headaches are known to be a central nervous system reaction; ruling out other determinants causing the patient’s headache could reveal the Sinemet as the causative factor (Nursing Drug Handbook, 2022).

According to recent evidence, many patients diagnosed in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease and taking levodopa have reported less bradykinesia, rigidity, and tremors symptoms (Frequin et al., 2022). The aforehand evidence suggestion will assist in evaluating how the patient’s Parkinson’s disease is currently controlled.

Educating the patient and family on non-pharmacological interventions for Parkinson’s disease, such as physical therapy and strength training exercises that include balancing and hydrotherapy, have been reported to increase motor function and help improve the quality of life for many with Parkinson’s disease (World Health Organization). Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care Assignment Paper

According to research, a patient diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease are at an increased risk for falls and were found to have higher numbers of prescription medications. A criteria revision by The American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria regarding potentially inappropriate medications has linked adverse patient outcomes to patient falls (Yusupov et al., 2017). Also, those who have Parkinson’s disease had increased incidences of anxiety and depression, placing them at higher risk of falls (Yusupov et al., 2017). Regarding the given patient scenario, the only medication information provided that he was currently prescribed was Sinemet.

References

Dains, J., Baumann, L. C., & Scheibel, P. (2020). Advanced health assessment and Clinical diagnosis in primary care (6th ed.).

Frequin, H. L., Schouten, J., Verschuur, C. V., Suwijn, S. R., Boel, J. A., Post, B., Bloem, B. R., van Hilten, J. J., van Laar, T., Tissingh, G., Munts, A. G., Dijk, J. M., Deuschl, G., Lang, A., Dijkgraaf, M. G., de Haan, R. J., & de Bie, R. M. (2022). Levodopa response in patients with early Parkinson’s disease: Further observations of the leap study. Neurology, 10.1212/WNL.0000000000201448. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000201448

Nursing drug handbook 2022 (42nd ed.). (2022). Wolters Kluwer.

World Health Organization. (n.d.). Parkinson’s Disease. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/parkinson-disease

Yusupov, E., Chen, D., & Krishnamachari, B. (2017). Medication use and falls: Applying beers criteria to medication review in Parkinson’s disease. SAGE Open Medicine, 5, 205031211774367. https://doi.org/10.1177/2050312117743673 Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Diagnosis in Primary Care Assignment Paper