NUR 600 Discussion 7.1 Common and Less-Common Diagnoses for the Breasts and Abdomen

Sample Answer for NUR 600 Discussion 7.1 Common and Less-Common Diagnoses for the Breasts and Abdomen

Common and Less Common Diagnoses of the Breasts

Breast and abdominal problems are among the health problems that nurses manage in their practice daily. These problems affect the quality of life, health and wellbeing of the populations. Nurses employ evidence-based strategies that optimize care outcomes such as quality, safety, and efficiency in their practice to manage these problems. Therefore, this paper examines a more common and less common diagnoses of the breasts and abdomen and how to differentiate them.

One of the most common breast problem is breast abscess. Breast abscess commonly affects lactating women. They are benign in nature. A non-lactating woman presenting with breast abscess should be evaluated for other causes such as carcinoma (Toomey & Le, 2022). A less common breast diagnosis are the complex fibroadenomas. Complex fibroadenomas have features such as cysts larger than 3 mm, sclerosing adenosis, epithelial calcifications, and papillary apocrine metaplasia. One can differentiate breast abscess and complex fibroadenoma based on clinical manifestations. Breast abscess have symptoms such as breast pain, tenderness, discharge, fever, warmth, and edema. Fibroadenomas have breast lumps that require additional diagnostic investigations such as mammography (Cardoso et al., 2020).

A common abdominal problem seen in the clinical setting is gastroenteritis. Patients with gastroenteritis present with symptoms such as watery diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, and dehydration (Sunkara et al., 2019). A less common diagnosis of the abdomen is abdominal aneurysm. Abdominal aneurysm is an enlargement of the aorta, which is associated with increased risk for rupture. The differentiating symptoms include pain in the abdomen, chest, or lower back, pulsating feeling in the abdomen, and cold foot (Oikonomou et al., 2019). Therefore, the client’s presenting symptoms guide in differentiating between gastroenteritis and abdominal aneurysm.

In summary, this paper has examined the most and less common diagnoses of the breast and abdomen. Nurses should be able to undertake comprehensive physical examination to determine the actual cause of their client’s problems. Additional investigations may be needed to rule out other causes. The developed care plans should be patient-centered for enhanced outcomes.

References

Cardoso, A. B. A., Schröder, G. C., Zimermann, P., Almendra, T. S. L., & Pinto, A. S. B. (2020). Complex fibroadenoma: Bibliometric literature review and presentation of a clinical case. Mastology, 30, e20200052. https://doi.org/10.29289/25945394202020200052

Oikonomou, K., Kasprzak, P., Katsargyris, A., Marques De Marino, P., Pfister, K., & Verhoeven, E. L. G. (2019). Mid-Term Results of Fenestrated/Branched Stent Grafting to Treat Post-dissection Thoraco-abdominal Aneurysms. European Journal of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, 57(1), 102–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejvs.2018.07.032

Sunkara, T., Rawla, P., Yarlagadda, K. S., & Gaduputi, V. (2019). Eosinophilic gastroenteritis: Diagnosis and clinical perspectives. Clinical and Experimental Gastroenterology, 12, 239–253. https://doi.org/10.2147/CEG.S173130

Toomey, A., & Le, J. K. (2022). Breast Abscess. In StatPearls. StatPearls Publishing. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK459122/

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Sample Answer 2 for NUR 600 Discussion 7.1 Common and Less-Common Diagnoses for the Breasts and Abdomen

It is true that clinical diagnosis is important in nursing practice as it facilitates the identification of a cause of the disease process. Gastroesophageal reflux disease is a common abdominal disorder with high prevalence globally. It is true that patients experience symptoms such as chest pain, dysphagia, heartburns, and sore throat. Besides the diagnostics you mentioned, other investigations that may be necessary in gastroesophageal reflux disease include endoscopy, x-ray of the upper digestive tract, and esophagogram (Maret-Ouda et al., 2020). I agree with your assertion that liver cirrhosis is a least common abdominal disorder. The low prevalence could be attributed to its associated risk factors such as hepatitis and alcoholism. It is true that breast pain is the most common diagnosis of the breasts in women. Factors such as hormonal changes during menstruation contribute to it. However, persistent breast pain should be examined, as it may indicate a worse, underlying pathology. I agree that breast cancer is the least common breast problem. Besides the influence of genetics, environmental factors such as the exposure to harmful radiations also affect a small number of women, hence, the small prevalence of the disease as compared to breast pain (Britt et al., 2020).

References

Britt, K. L., Cuzick, J., & Phillips, K.-A. (2020). Key steps for effective breast cancer prevention. Nature Reviews Cancer, 20(8), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-020-0266-x

Maret-Ouda, J., Markar, S. R., & Lagergren, J. (2020). Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease: A Review. JAMA, 324(24), 2536–2547. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.21360

NUR 600 Discussion 8.1 Common and Less-Common Diagnoses for the Neurologic System

Common and Less-Common Diagnoses for the Neurologic System  

One of the most prevalent neurological illnesses is headaches, which can afflict anyone at any age. While a headache often isn’t anything to be overly concerned about, if the patient’s headaches start to occur abruptly and frequently, there may be signs of an underlying issue. Severe headaches that appear out of the blue, headaches accompanied by fever, photosensitivity, and neck stiffness are all warning signs of more dangerous conditions including meningitis or cerebral hemorrhage (Filler et al., 2019). Managing chronic pain may be crippling, even though headache disorders like migraine and tension-type headaches are not life-threatening. Nowadays, there are several headache therapy choices available including NSAIDs. 

A very uncommon neuromuscular ailment that damages the nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain is ALS, often known as Lou Gehrig’s disease (Masrori & Van Damme, 2020). Although doctors are unaware of the precise origin of ALS, environmental and genetic factors are thought to play a role. Muscle twitching, stiffness, impaired speech, and breathing and swallowing issues are among the symptoms. Sadly, this ailment is challenging to identify and frequently needs a neuromuscular neurologist’s assessment. 

A thorough medical history and physical examination are the first steps a healthcare professional takes to identify a nervous system problem. To diagnose a headache in an emergency, the doctor must first take a complete history and do a focused physical examination. The unilateral location, extended duration (4–72 hours), frequency, concomitant symptoms including nausea and/or vomiting, and light sensitivity are only a few of the migraine’s primary distinguishing characteristics (Anarte-Lazo et al., 2021). For ALS, a neurologic examination will evaluate the patient’s reflexes, muscular strength, and other reactions. It will also be conducted regularly to see whether symptoms such as muscle weakness, muscle atrophy, and spasticity are progressively worsening (Quinn & Elman, 2020). 

References 

Anarte-Lazo, E., Carvalho, G. F., Schwarz, A., Luedtke, K., & Falla, D. (2021). Differentiating migraine, cervicogenic headache and asymptomatic individuals based on physical examination findings: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-021-04595-w 

Filler, L., Nimlos, P., & Akhter, M. (2019). Evaluation and Management of the Emergency Department Headache. Seminars in Neurology, 39(01), 020–026. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0038-1677023 

Masrori, P., & Van Damme, P. (2020). Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a clinical review. European Journal of Neurology, 27(10), 1918–1929. https://doi.org/10.1111/ene.14393 

Quinn, C., & Elman, L. (2020). Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Other Motor Neuron Diseases. CONTINUUM: Lifelong Learning in Neurology, 26(5), 1323–1347. https://doi.org/10.1212/con.0000000000000911 

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