Case study Scenario: 76-year-old female patient complains of weight gain, shortness of breath, peripheral edema, and abdominal swelling. She has a history of congestive heart failure and admits to not taking her diuretic, as it makes her “have to get up every couple hours to go to the bathroom.” She now has to sleep on two pillows in order to get enough air. Assignment (1- to 2-page case study analysis) In your Case Study Analysis related to the scenario provided, explain the following The cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary pathophysiologic processes that result in the patient presenting these symptoms. Any racial/ethnic variables that may impact physiological functioning. How these processes interact to affect the patient.

Cardiopulmonary/ Cardiovascular Pathophysiologic Processes Leading to the

Symptoms

The condition affecting the patient is as a direct result of the presence of a pathogen in the breathing system, where the alveoli are attacked and invoke a response which causes various body changes (McCance & Huether, 2019). Specifically, when the pathogen reaches the alveoli, the host defense mechanism is activated and there are multiple deposits of white blood cells in the alveoli lining, which clogs the pathway for passing oxygen to the blood vessels (Siddiqi & Ruberg, 2018).

As a result, much of the air that the patient breathes in is not utilized, and they have to take multiple breaths to fulfil their oxygen needs, hence the occurrence of shortness of breath. The attacks of the microorganisms could be from sinusitis, nasal carriers, hematogenous spread, and oropharynx.

Ethnic/Racial Variables that Could Influence the Physiological Functioning

One of the racial variables that the client may experience is the idea of some racial groups having more susceptibility to attacks compared to others. For example, African Americans have a higher tendency of being victims of pneumonia compared to Whites. While it may not be possible to explain the rationale behind this difference, it is evident that some of the explanations could lie behind the behaviors (Sehgal et al., 2016).

For example, African Americans are more exposed to several risk behaviors such as smoking. Another reason for the variance could be because of the absence of optimal levels of alpha-carotene among Africans, which makes it hard for them to have enough functioning ability in the cases of limited oxygen such as in pneumonia attacks (Sehgal et al., 2016).

How the mentioned Processes network to affect the Patient

The symptoms shown often render the patient inactive since they cannot engage in work activities for a long period of time. Also, the work environment of the patient becomes limited as they can no longer work in industries or environments where there are numerous air pollutants that limit their ability to access enough oxygen (McCance & Huether, 2019). Another limitation that the patient could have following the diagnosis with the condition is the prohibition to engage in strenuous exercises.

This limitation could lead to higher problems that are associated with dormancy, including but not limited to lifestyle problems like obesity (Gabriel-Costa, 2018). In case the reduced oxygen volumes becomes extreme, the brain function could also be affected in that the patient could encounter symptoms of reduced brain function and get higher problems such as dementia (Siddiqi & Ruberg, 2018). Similarly, the heart function could be affected where the cardiac muscles fail to get enough nourishment, which could ultimately lead to things such as heart attack.

As part of the therapy, the patient may need to take antibiotics such as Clindamycin and Fluoroquinolones such as Delafloxacin (Li et al., 2021). Delafloxacin is likely to be effective in treating the condition but it has numerous side effects that the client would have to bear with during the entire therapy period (Li et al., 2021). For example, the client would find chest pain, tingling feelings, cold sweats, and also experience anxiety.

On a positive note, however, these processes could help the patient to correct many other problems in the body that they were possibly unaware about. That is, the antibiotics act generally, and they could help to treat an infection that was unidentified in the liver or in another organ where it was not likely for the client to identify it early enough.

Conclusion

Pneumonia is a condition which entails various cardiovascular and respiratory processes that affect the patient in different ways. Among the chief characteristics or symptoms present in pneumonia patients is the shortness of breath which is as a direct result of the blocking of the pathway used to pass inhaled oxygen to the blood vessels in the alveoli.

The patient shown in the case study would have to seek treatment in a timely fashion lest the condition would advance to affect other organs of the body and lead to higher diseases such as cardiac arrest or brain damage. The treatment plan for the condition should also be considerate of the side effects, as some of them could affect the patient negatively to worsen her healing process.

References

Andrade, J