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Case Studies: Elderly Patients' Health Issues

Clare Giardini is a 70-year-old woman who frequently presents to the emergency department with shortness of breath. She lives alone and has a history of heart and lung conditions including atrial fibrillation and systolic dysfunction. Freddie Hankin is a 69-year-old Indigenous man diagnosed with stage III lung cancer one year ago. He lives with his wife and grandchildren and has a history of hypertension, emphysema, and lung cancer. Both patients present with symptoms of pain, fatigue, difficulty breathing, and frequent urination at night.

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87 views4 pages

Case Studies: Elderly Patients' Health Issues

Clare Giardini is a 70-year-old woman who frequently presents to the emergency department with shortness of breath. She lives alone and has a history of heart and lung conditions including atrial fibrillation and systolic dysfunction. Freddie Hankin is a 69-year-old Indigenous man diagnosed with stage III lung cancer one year ago. He lives with his wife and grandchildren and has a history of hypertension, emphysema, and lung cancer. Both patients present with symptoms of pain, fatigue, difficulty breathing, and frequent urination at night.

Uploaded by

mandy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Case study 1

Clare Giardini is a 70-year old women, who frequently presents to both her local General
practitioner and also the local emergency department. In the last three months she has

presented to the local hospital with shortness of breath six times. On occasion she
misses her local GP appointments and runs out of her medications whilst waiting for her

pension.

Social History

She lives happily on her own and has two adult children who live several hours away.
Clare’s husband passed away over five years ago from complication of his diabetes and

cardiac disease and she cared for him during his last few years. Clare lives in town in
government housing and she enjoys knitting and playing with her pet cats. Clare grew

up in her local town and has never left in her 70-years she has many friends that she
meets at the local club for lunch twice a week.

Medical History

Clare has a history of osteoarthritis, non-insulin dependent diabetes and hypertension. A

recent echocardiogram showed systolic dysfunction and a poor left ventricular ejection
fraction, and she is noted to have chronic controlled atrial fibrillation.

Medications

 Metformin 

 Paracetamol
 Diclofenac

 Quinapril
 Furosemide

1
Objective data

 Temperature 36.8
 Radial pulse 91 beats per minute and irregular

 BP 112/65 mmHg 
 Cardiac system S1 and S2, present, no murmurs

 Respiration rate: 22 breaths per minute and shallow, SpO2 94%


 Lung sounds: crackles in both bases

 BGL: 8 mmol/L
 HbA1C: 75mmol/mol

Subjective data

 Pain is 2/10

 Fatigue
 Orthopnea

 Nocturia up to six times per night

Case study 2:

Freddie Hankin is a 69 year old Australian Indigenous man who lives in regional NSW. He

was diagnosed with Stage III lung cancer one year ago. In last two month, he has
presented to the local hospital with symptoms of pain and dyspnea three times. Freddie

says he is afraid his condition is deteriorating. 

Social History

He lives with his wife (Annie) (both self-funded retirees) and his young grandchildren for
whom he and Annie have been providing care. He enjoys gardening and playing with his

dog. He and Annie bring his young grandchildren to child care twice a week. He and
Annie will use this time to meet their friends in the local restaurant. 

2
Medical History

Freddie has a history of hypertension and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). He also
suffered from emphysema two years ago. He takes regular treatment for his

hypertension and pain. 

Medications

 Amlodipine 
 Verapamil

 Paracetamol
 Tramadol

 Oxycodone 

Objective data

 Temperature 36.5
 Radial pulse 85 beats per minute and regular

 BP 160/95 mmHg 
 Respiration rate: 22 breaths per minute, 26 breaths per minute when he is in pain,

SpO2 97%
 Lung sounds: whistling noise while breathing 

Subjective data

 Pain is 6-8/10 (before taking pain tablets), pain is 4-5/10 (after taking pain

tablets)
 Fatigue

 Orthopnea
 Nocturia up to five times per night

3
4

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