Digital Commons Network^™

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Emily Stitzel

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a terminal neurodegenerative disorder affecting an individual’s motor neurons. With a high prevalence affecting people in the United States of America, the progressive disease affects the lives of many. Once a patient is diagnosed, a short survival rate is to be expected. Importance for healthcare workers should be to focus on proper diagnosis, therapeutic communication, and palliative care. The pathophysiology is still under investigation; however, there have been breakthroughs regarding genetic alterations within the Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase gene (SOD1) and a large repeat on the C9ORF72 gene. By examining the signs and symptoms, doing the …

Gram-Negative Bacteria And Sepsis, Christine D. Ridge

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Today’s medical world encompasses an environment in which gram-negative bacteria that once were defeated with common antibiotics, have now become resistant. Gram-negative bacteria like Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter, and Acinetobacter are pathogens that are an emerging threat causing sepsis due to multidrug-resistance (Pop-Vicas & Opal, 2014, p.189). The multidrug-resistance mechanisms of gram-negative bacteria coupled with a patient population commonly seen in hospital settings, that consist of immunocompromised adults due to advancing age, comorbidities (e.g. AIDS, history of transplants, diabetes, and chemotherapy), and immunotherapies, create an environment for advanced infection or sepsis to take place.

Complications of multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria …

Alzheimer's Disease Today & Tomorrow, Sherry L. Shaffer

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) has impacted me on a personal level and professional level. I witnessed my grandfather slowly slip away at the hands of AD over the course of a decade. As a psychiatric nurse, I have provided care for geriatric patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease and stuck in a cycle of acute psychiatric distress and chronic neurodegeneration.

• Over 100 years ago, Dr. Alois Alzheimer first described AD. (Alzheimer’s Association, 2016)

• In 1994, former President Ronald Reagan put AD in the spotlight when he publicly shared his diagnosis. (Alzheimer’s Association, 2016)

• In 2013, the CDC estimates as many as 5 …

  ---

  Go to article

Protein Losing Enteropathy Following Fontan Palliation In The Single Ventricle Population, Alaina Dunkleberger

Nursing Student Class Projects (Formerly MSN)

Congenital heart defects requiring single ventricle palliation are a rare but life-threatening occurrence. There are multiple defects resulting in single ventricle physiology including defects in which the right or left ventricle within the heart is either undeveloped (hypoplastic left heart syndrome, hypoplastic right heart syndrome), or the valve to the main pulmonary artery did not form (pulmonary atresia). These defects prevent the heart from supplying adequate blood flow to the lungs or body. Single ventricle congenital heart defects are not easily treated surgically due to their complexity in nature. Single ventricle surgical palliation typically involves three open-heart surgeries including the …