NR 509 Week 6 iHuman Virtual Patient Encounter – Neurologic Assessment (Graded)

Sample Answer for NR 509 Week 6 iHuman Virtual Patient Encounter – Neurologic Assessment (Graded)

One rule is to always include “the worst-case scenario” in your differential diagnosis even when completing the NR 509 Week 6 iHuman Virtual Patient Encounter – Neurologic Assessment (Graded) assignment. The second rule is to make sure you have ruled out this possibility based on your findings and patient assessment. Your goal is to minimize the risk of missing unusual or infrequent conditions such as meningococcal meningitis, bacterial endocarditis, pulmonary embolus, or subdural hematoma that are particularly ominous. 

What are the “red flags” in this case?

Red flags are critical signs that show a condition is manifesting in the body. In the NR 509 Week 6 iHuman Virtual Patient Encounter – Neurologic Assessment (Graded) case, red flags will be vital signs describing different conditions. The core red flags are severe headaches, neck muscle stiffness, vomiting, general body weakness, and nausea. Although there are several infections with similar symptoms, the practitioner can infer meningitis because of the severity of the underlying symptoms (Cibrelus et al., 2018). The condition can be confused with subdural hematoma or pulmonary embolism because they have shared red flags. However, there is the ease of ruling them out.   

Based on your pertinent key findings, what is “the worst-case scenario”?

The NR 509 Week 6 iHuman Virtual Patient Encounter – Neurologic Assessment (Graded) case outlines meningitis as the worst-case scenario, and its symptoms describe how the condition is fatal. Most people suffering from meningitis believe a virus causes it, although some attribute it to bacteria and other related species. Based on the findings, the condition occurs as a form of inflammation. When the brain membrane swells, the brain and the spine are subjected to risk. Therefore, meningitis requires urgent treatment for chronic symptoms such as severe headaches, coma and neck stiffness.     

What lessons did you learn from this case that you can apply to your future professional practice?

The case scenario has been informative, and I can draw several lessons to reinforce my future practice.  Firstly, checking the unexpected or worst scenario during the clinical evaluation of a patient is a critical lesson. Based on this case, meningitis was the worst scenario and a life-threatening condition (Azure et al., 2023). This lesson will be applicable in any clinical setting whenever I am undertaking a clinical assessment of patients. Another vital lesson from this scenario is always considering rare illnesses when assessing patients in clinical settings. In our case, meningitis was a rare condition, and it was discovered through assessment and ruling other similar conditions out based on the presented symptoms.  

References

Azure, S., Abdul-Karim, A., Abubakari, B. B., Eleeza, J. B., Agboyie, D. D. A., Weyori, E. W., & Choi, J. Y. (2023). Trends in Neisseria meningitidis serogroups amongst patients with suspected cerebrospinal meningitis in the meningitis belt of Ghana: a 5-year retrospective study. BMC Infectious Diseases, 23(1), 202.

Cibrelus, L., Lingani, C., Fernandez, K., Djingarey, M. H., Perea, W. A., & Hugonnet, S. (2018). Risk assessment and meningococcal A conjugate vaccine introduction in Africa: the district prioritization tool. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 61(suppl_5), S442-S450.

NR 509 Week 8 Reflection on Learning graded

Reflection on Learning 

Marine Keshishyan 

Chamberlain University 

NR 509 

Dr. Baltz 

08/30/2023 

Role of Course Assignments in Achieving Program Outcome 1 

Program outcome one is offering high-quality, safe, patient-centered, and holistic care in nursing practice. The course assignments have provided me with extensive clinical skills from the simulated clinical experiences to reflect the actual clinical encounters through the iHuman case studies. These assignments have offered a practical learning point, which has enabled me to augment some of the vital clinical skills, precisely diagnostic competency and clinical judgment skills. By using the iHuman patients, I was able to engage in rigorous, repeatable, and safe activities that honed my history-taking, review, physical examination, diagnosis, and medical documentation skills. Consequently, I have gained practical enhancement of my diagnostic accuracy, efficiency, and completeness, promoting high-quality and safe care provision. Additionally, through the program assignments, I understood the vitality of viewing the patient as a whole, valuing their personhood beyond the clinical manifestations they present. In this regard, I have acquired an in-depth conceptualization of the essentiality of reviewing all the systems that influence the patient’s health continuum, including social, mental, and physical, which ultimately enhances a holistic and patient-centered care approach. For instance, considering the patient’s health insurance coverage status when developing a treatment plan to integrate affordable yet effective interventions is a patient-centered approach to care, among others that I garnered from this course assignment. Therefore, the realistically developed iHuman cases have helped me build extensive clinical skills and understand how to integrate holistic health principles into my nursing practice, advancing my ability to provide high-quality, safe, patient-centered care.  

Role of Course Assignments in Achieving Advanced-Level Nursing Education Competencies 

The course assignments and activities have also contributed to achieving one of the advanced-level nursing education competencies under the AACN Essentials Domain 1. Precisely, the course assignments and activities contributed significantly to achieving the third competency, “Demonstrate clinical judgment founded on a broad knowledge base.” The third competency requires nurses to incorporate rudimentary and progressive expertise knowledge in the clinical reasoning processes, synthesizing recent and relevant evidence to inform their practice and utilizing nursing and experiential expertise to evaluate decision models and enhance their clinical reasoning and decision-making capacity (American Association of Colleges of Nursing, n.d.). Of note, the course assignments and activities contributed substantially to building my ability to integrate the basics and advanced nursing knowledge into my clinical reasoning process through the iHuman case studies, which enabled me to utilize all the knowledge I have garnered to make clinical assessments and informed diagnostic and treatment decisions. Furthermore, during the development of the SOAP notes, I enhanced my ability to apply evidence-based practice concepts in evaluating patients, completing differential diagnoses, and informing my clinical decisions, an experience that I intend to transfer to my nursing practice. Consequently, the course assignments have advanced my ability to acquire a broad knowledge base and equipped me with the expertise to utilize them in my clinical judgment and decision-making. 

Role of Course Assignments in Achieving One NONPF Independent Practice Competency 

The course assignments and activities have equipped me with extensive skills and knowledge, which, when applied in practice, will propel me to achieving independent practice competencies. First, having gained vital fundamental and advanced expertise in nursing practice and by further acquiring the required licenses and experience level, I can practice independently with guaranteed high-quality and safe care provision to diagnosed and undiagnosed patients. Secondly, the course assignments and activities have also instilled in me vital professional and ethical nursing approaches to care, which will be critical in achieving competencies such as accountability, educating other healthcare providers I work with on the provision of culturally and spiritually sensitive care, interprofessional collaboration, care coordination, and utilization of professional standards and evidence-based practice concepts. The course assignments have also equipped me with an in-depth conceptualization of extensive holistic health principles, which augment my ability to effectively deliver patient-centered and culturally competent care to assist patients in achieving and maintaining optimal health.  

References 

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (n.d.). Domain 1: Knowledge for Nursing Practice. American Association of Colleges of Nursing. https://www.aacnnursing.org/essentials/tool-kit/domains-concepts/knowledge-for-nursing-practice