Carols case study

Carol is a 70-year-old lady with a long history of COPD. She has more recently been diagnosed with lung cancer for which active treatment is not possible given its advanced and progressive nature. Carol is currently experiencing a high symptom burden, including dyspnoea, fatigue, and pain. She has a poor appetite and continues to lose weight – her current BMI is 12 and she looks very frail. Carol has been complaining of a sore and red bottom and puts this down to a very uncomfortable bed which she is now spending most of her time in.

Carol lives in a multigenerational household, where she cares and provides support for her grandchildren. There is some discord in the family with her daughter’s ex-partner not being allowed near the children. The children are also experiencing some behavioural problems that has occurred since the change in Carol’s ability to support them and this has resulted in additional stress and worry for Carol.

Carol received palliative chemotherapy but following recovery from neutropenic sepsis, she has made the decision to stop any further treatment. She has confided in her community nursing care team that she is not coping with the situation and has been feeling very low and anxious recently. Carol wants to be cared for and to die at home and has expressed this wish consistently.

Plan where essay should focus on: Carol and her family are not currently coping in the family home. Carol’s symptoms are not adequately managed, and she requires psychological, emotional and family support that will then allow her to return home to her preferred place of care at the end of life. The plan at present is that Carol is transferred to an inpatient specialist palliative care unit for assessment and symptom management with a plan for her to return home as soon as possible.

This part of the assessment requires students to choose  following module case studies Carol, to form the basis of their comprehensive patient case report.

Students will be provided with a summary of the patients’ case and situation at the time of a transfer of their care from one setting to another such as transfer from hospice to the home.

Identify two specific care and support needs for that patient and critically discuss evidence-based approaches or interventions to address them.

The suggested format of this patient case report is:

Introduction (approximately 250 words) – This section is where you will introduce the context and background to your case. You should briefly describe the case study you have chosen to focus your report on. You will need to interpret the information and data provided in the case and concisely summarise the key points to the reader. You will also need to identify and outline two specific care needs or requirements for your patient that you want to highlight to facilitate transfer of their care between healthcare settings. These care needs will form the basis of the remainder of your report – they should be holistic and might include physical, psychological, spiritual or social needs. Generic examples** of what we mean by care needs and requirements are:

Acute pain related to deteriorating condition such as pressure sores, – pain management.

Anxiety related to dying and leaving daughter alone with two children.

Requirement for education and support to self-manage.

Discussion of care needs and interventions (approximately 1,500 words) – This is the main body of the report and will require critical analysis and discussion of the interventions and strategies for addressing your patient’s care needs. Your clinical decision making and interventions need to be discussed within the context of the wider literature and should be supported by the best quality evidence available including research, clinical guidelines, care standards, national policy documents, and relevant theory. Need to be peer reviewed and align with local guidelines such as NICE, NMC code.

Conclusion and recommendations (approximately 250 words) – This section is where you will bring together your patient overview and discussion of their care requirements. Key points learned from the case should be summarised and you will want to consider proposing recommendations to the main issues presented in the case that can be passed on to the nursing team who will be taking over the patient’s care as they transfer from one setting to another.

References – A reference list that adheres to Harvard referencing style must be included.

A key point to remember – It’s all about the patient! Case study reports are based on a patient or patients, even if they are fictitious or made-up patients. Therefore, it is important to remember to keep your patient central to this report. By that we mean that it is not enough to discuss a certain treatment, or symptom in isolation. Instead, always discuss it in the context of your patient. Here’s an example:

Sam’s injury is…..and therefore Intervention X, which involves…..would be most appropriate for Sam because…..(references).

The use of I / We / You is Not appropriate

10% flexibility is allowed on the word count – total therefore equals 2200 words

Students should refer to the student handbook for regulations relating to presentation of assessments, late submissions, plagiarism, confidentiality, mitigating circumstances and all other assessment issues.

Document Example only Document 1 NA30208 Rubric – appr 20.06.23