Blood clots form in various locations of the body and are not unique to any specific age group or gender. While there are certain risk factors that may make a patient more likely to develop blood clots, essentially any patient is a potential candidate. Unfortunately, blood clots often go unrecognized until something happens. Even if the patient identifies a problem and seeks medical care, blood clots are frequently misdiagnosed resulting in serious medical complications and sometimes death. Why does this happen? How can you, as the advanced practice nurse, protect your patients from misdiagnosis?
Consider the following case studies:
A 50-year-old white male went to the emergency department with complaints of right leg pain. The patient is an avid runner, and knowing this, the provider diagnosed the patient with a right leg muscle strain. The patient was sent home with Flexeril as needed and Motrin 800 mg q8h as needed. One week later, the patient followed up with his primary care doctor with continued right leg pain. His doctor instructed him to continue to take the muscle relaxant and Motrin, and advised that the pain should subside in 5–10 days. The following day the right leg pain increased, prompting the patient to return to the emergency department. Multiple providers failed to diagnose a blood clot in the patient’s right leg.
- Review Chapter 125 of the Buttaro et al. texbook.
- Reflect on what went wrong in this case study, as well as why patient blood clots continue to be misdiagnosed.
- Think about how you might have prevented the misdiagnosis of the patient the case study. Consider strategies for obtaining patient history, ordering diagnostics, and recommending potential treatment options.
Write a description of what went wrong in the case study, as well as why patient blood clots continue to be misdiagnosed. Then, explain how you might have prevented the misdiagnosis of the patient in the study. Include strategies for obtaining patient history, ordering diagnostics, and recommending potential treatment options.
Must use strict APA Format.
Must use at least 4 credible sources including the required course textbook (hyperlink below).
Do Not Use sites like Mayo Clinic, WebMD or any other “.com” websites. Additional sources must be credible peer reviewed articles or educational textbooks.
Required Textbook Link:
Primary Care: A Collaborative Practice
Chapter 125 “Peripheral Artery and Venous Insufficiency”
Username: firstname.lastname@example.org Password: Apple123!
APA Citation for textbook and article:
Buttaro, T. M., Trybulski, J., Polgar-Bailey, P., & Sandberg-Cook, J. (2017). Primary care: A collaborative practice (5th ed.). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier.
SAMPLE PAPER UPLOADED SEPARATELY. DO NOT COPY THE SAMPLE PAPER.
SAMPLE PAPER IS BRIEF AND NOT AS DETAILED.
Report an abuse for product Blood Clots
Instances of formation of blood clumps after hardening of blood from its liquid form to solid are termed as blood clotting. A blood clot that forms inside a vein or an artery is called thrombus. In worse situations, a thrombus may break loose and travel from one location of patient’s body to another. Under such conditions, the thrombus assumes the medical term embolus. Many cases of blood clots go unnoticed a condition that subject patient with blood clots to threatening medical condition. In the case study provided, various factors could have led to the misdiagnosed results of the patient. The first primary reason that could have promoted the negative diagnosis is that the doctor did not carry out a medical history search for the patient.