NURS-6501 Module 2 Week 4 Assignment: Case Study Analysis WALDEN

MODULE 2 ASSIGNMENT: WEEK 4 CASE STUDY ANALYSIS 2 Module 2 Assignment: Week 4 Case Study Analysis A 65-year-old patient is 8 days post op after a total knee replacement. Patient suddenly complains of shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, and palpitations. On arrival to the emergency department, an EKG revealed new onset atrial fibrillation and right ventricular strain pattern – T wave inversions in the right precordial leads (V1-4) ± the inferior leads (II, III, aVF) Introduction The patient presented to the Emergency Department with complaints of shortness of breath, pleuritic chest pain, and palpitations along with new onset a-fib 8 days after having a total knee replacement. Based upon the patient's presentation and EKG, a practioner would most likely look for a definitive diagnosis of a pulmonary embolism (PE). There are two likely scenarios that led to the patient having a PE one being a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) that developed post-operatively or from post-operative atrial fibrillation (POAF). This case study analysis will explore the causes and discuss the convergence of the two. The purpose of this analysis in the aforementioned case study is to explain the cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary pathophysiologic processes that result in the patient presenting with these symptoms as well as explain how the processes interact to affect the patient and to discuss the racial and ethnic variables that may impact physiological function. The cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary pathophysiologic processes that result in the patient presenting with these symptoms. Major lower extremity arthoplasty, such as a total hip replacement (THA)and total knee replacement (TKA) is one the most commonly performed procedures; however these procedures pose a significant risk for a venous thromboembolism (VTE) for patients and it is believed that the true incidence are not well-defined and are under-reported (Fujita et al., 2014). "Several