Case study
HH is a 68 yo M who has been admitted to the medical ward with community-acquired pneumonia for the past 3 days. His PMH is significant for COPD, HTN, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes. He remains on empiric antibiotics, which include ceftriaxone 1 g IV qday (day 3) and azithromycin 500 mg IV qday (day 3). Since admission, his clinical status has improved, with decreased oxygen requirements. He is not tolerating a diet at this time with complaints of nausea and vomiting.
Ht: 5’8†Wt: 89 kg
Allergies: Penicillin (rash)
Assignment
Post a brief description of your patient’s health needs from the patient case study assigned. Be specific. Then, explain the type of treatment regimen you would recommend for treating your patient, including the choice or pharmacotherapeutics you would recommend and explain why. Be sure to justify your response. Explain a patient education strategy you might recommend for assisting your patient with the management of their health needs. Be specific and provide examples.
Pharmacology
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliations
Pharmacology
The choice of a drug is usually influenced by numerous factors some of which include the severity of disease symptoms and the patient’s age. From the case study information, the patient’s health needs include; the need to recover from pneumonia and the need for safe use of medications. According to Costa et al. (2021), a drug is considered effective and safe when it can improve the target disease symptoms without causing adverse events. The healthcare provider must select a treatment option that will be able to address the identified needs.
Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes work together to generate the therapeutic effects of a drug. The current choice of medications is appropriate considering the patient’s symptoms. Precisely, the healthcare provider should advise the patient to continue using ceftriaxone 1 g IV qday and azithromycin 500 mg IV qday for another four days as symptom monitoring continues. Ceftriaxone and azithromycin are evidence-based pharmacological interventions for pneumonia (Nestler et al., 2021). To assess the effectiveness of these drugs over time, the patient should record an improvement in pneumonia symptoms. Additionally, he should not develop any significant adverse reactions associated with the drugs. His oxygen requirements should decrease even further following continued use of the prescribed medications.
Patient education enhances recovery and facilitates the realization of the desired health outcomes. The patient education strategy that the healthcare provider should recommend for assisting the patient with the management of his health needs is the teach-back method. The rationale for choosing the teach-back method of patient education is that it will enable the healthcare provider to assess whether the patient has mastered the self-management interventions that are required to enhance recovery at home (Yen & Leasure). For example, the patient and his healthcare provider should be able to explain the prescribed health promotion interventions on their own to demonstrate that they have understood the taught concepts.
References
Costa, B. R., Pereira, T. V., Saadat, P., Rudnicki, M., Iskander, S. M., Bodmer, N. S., Bobos, P., Gao, L., Kiyomoto, H. D., Montezuma, T., Almeida, M. O., Cheng, P. S., Hincapié, C. A., Hari, R., Sutton, A. J., Tugwell, P., Hawker, G. A., & Jüni, P. (2021). Effectiveness and safety of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioid treatment for knee and hip osteoarthritis: network meta-analysis. BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 375, n2321. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.n2321
Nestler, M. J., Godbout, E., Lee, K., Kim, J., Noda, A. J., Taylor, P., Pryor, R., Markley, J. D., Doll, M., Bearman, G., & Stevens, M. P. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on pneumonia-focused antibiotic use at an academic medical center. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology, 42(7), 915–916. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2020.362
Yen, P. H., & Leasure, A. R. (2019). Use and Effectiveness of the Teach-Back Method in Patient Education and Health Outcomes. Federal Practitioner: For the Health Care Professionals of the VA, DoD, and PHS, 36(6), 284–289.