Aim:
The aim of this essay is for you to demonstrate an ability to apply theoretical knowledge to plan effective evidence-based, person-centred care for a client with an acute medical or surgical condition, in line with the NMBA Registered nurses standards for practice.

Assessment description:

Consider the following client scenario:

John Grant, a 63 year old man has been diagnosed with bilateral knee osteoarthritis. His GP added Endone 5 mg prn but due to his worsening pain, mostly in his right knee, John was referred for a right total knee replacement and a plan to have the left knee done also, once he was fully recovered from the first operation. He has a history of angina, hypertension (HTN), hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and depression.

John is widower and owns a café, along with his eldest daughter. He previously worked 6 days / week however due to his painful knees he has reduced his work to light duties and office work 2 days/week and now worries about his daughter’s workload. John lives in his own home, which has six steps at the front, and is usually able to do all his own Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and household work independently. His family visits regularly, and recently his son and daughter-in-law have been helping with the housework and cooking. John has returned to your ward after having his total knee replacement surgery and you are the nurse taking over his post-operative cares.

1. Choose ONE of the topics listed below – Post op respiratory infection OR Post op deep vein thrombosis (DVT).
2. Search the literature for at least 10 recent [less than five years old] research journal articles or systematic review papers related to the topic you have selected.
3. Write an essay of 1500 words in length in response to the following essay criteria.
4. Use current evidence to support your discussion on the topic.
5. Refer to the marking criteria to see how many marks are allocated to each section and to get further information on the assignment structure.
6. Use the APA 6 Referencing style and the School’s assignment formatting guidelines https://sites.google.com/a/griffith.edu.au/griffith-health-writing-and-referencing-guide/

TOPICS: Choose ONE of the following post-operative conditions

For your chosen post-operative condition address the following criteria.

A. POST OP RESPIRATORY INFECTION

1. Provide an overview of the patient:
● Briefly outline their current condition and include some basic pathophysiology.
● Discuss other relevant medical history, social environmental and family situation.
● Identify and discuss risk factors (in other words what might go wrong to cause a respiratory infection and why).
● Use scholarly literature to support your discussion.
2. Comprehensive assessment
● Discuss 2 areas of the systematic assessments relevant to the client and their associated condition.
● Include in your discussion 2 risk assessments that may be relevant for this client, including why they were chosen.
● Refer also to culture, ethnicity, family and the inter-professional team.
● Use scholarly literature to support your discussion.
3. Plan nursing care based on your assessments of the patient
● Discuss 2 specific strategies to meet the client’s needs identified in the assessment.

● From your analysis of the literature, propose and justify a plan to prevent a post-operative respiratory infection in this client. (i.e., make a case for what is best practice based on your reading, and provide supporting evidence).
● Compare and contrast differing views that you found in the literature and construct an argument for what you think is best practice (i.e., evidence-based) in this particular scenario.
● Use scholarly literature to support your discussion (i.e., journal articles and contemporary sources).
4. Evaluationof care
● Discuss any inter-professional collaboration that may be required to manage the patient whilst in hospital or at home.
● In your own words, and using reflective practice, discuss strategies to evaluate the plan of care.

B. POST OP DEEP VEIN THROMBOSIS (DVT)

1. Provide an overview of the patient
● Briefly outline their current condition and include some basic pathophysiology.
● Discuss other relevant medical history, social environmental and family situation.
● Identify and discuss risk factors (in other words what might go wrong to cause a
DVT and why).
● Use scholarly literature to support your discussion.

2. Comprehensive assessment
● Discuss 2 areas of the systematic assessments relevant to the client and their
associated condition.
● Include in your discussion 2 risk assessments that may be relevant for this client,
including why they were chosen.
● Refer also to culture, ethnicity, family and the inter-professional team.
● Use scholarly literature to support your discussion.
3. Plan nursing care based on your assessments of the patient
● Discuss 2 specific strategies to meet the client’s needs identified in the assessment.

● From your analysis of the literature, discuss and justify a plan to prevent a post-operative deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in this client. (i.e., make a case for what is best practice based on your reading, and provide supporting evidence to back it up).
● Compare and contrast differing views that you found in the literature and construct an argument for what you think is best practice (i.e., evidence-based) in this particular scenario.
● Use scholarly literature to support your discussion (i.e., journal articles and contemporary sources).
4. Evaluation and of care
● Discuss any inter-professional collaboration that may be required to manage the patient whilst in hospital or at home.
● In your own words, and using reflective practice discuss strategies to evaluate the plan of care.