NURS 6521 Wk 9 Discussion: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
NURS 6521 Wk 9 Discussion: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
NURS 6521 Wk 9 Discussion: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
The case study addresses HH, who is 68 years old male. The patient has been diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia. His PMH is significant to diabetes, COPD, hyperlipidemia, and HTN. The patient is
on ceftriaxone 1 g IV qday and azithromycin 500 mg IV qday. Since admission, his clinical status has improved, with decreased oxygen requirements. He is not tolerating a diet at this time with complaints of nausea and vomiting and has lost some weight. The patient is also presenting with an allergic reaction to penicillin. This paper examines a patient who is present with COPD, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia and is receiving antibiotics although he is allergic to them.
The patient in the scenario has community-acquired pneumonia, improving oxygen demands on day three of ceftriaxone 1 gram daily and azithromycin 500gm intravenous daily. It is important to obtain sputum cultures when treating pneumonia before starting antibiotic therapy (Quinton et al., 2018). The scenario does not list any lab results, and therefore, the infective agent is unknown. Common bacteria that cause CAP are Streptococcus pneumoniae, mycoplasma ssp., Hemophilus influenzae, and staphylococcus aureus (Ding et al., 2018). This patient has an allergic reaction to the penicillin family, evidenced by his skin rash. Patients with a history of penicillin allergy should never receive them again (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2021).
NURS 6521 Wk 9 Discussion: Women’s and Men’s Health, Infectious Disease, and Hematologic Disorders
Similar medications with no incidences of allergic reactions are sulfonamides, trimethoprim, and erythromycin. Patients with allergic reactions to penicillin can receive third or fourth-generation cephalosporin or carbapenems such as Tetracyclines (doxycycline), quinolones (ciprofloxacin), macrolides (gentamycin), and glycopeptides (vancomycin) (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2021). These are all unrelated to penicillins and are safe to use in patients with penicillin allergies.
The patient has a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). COPD can be exacerbated by respiratory tract infections and may require antibiotic therapy, bronchodilators, glucocorticoids, and supplemental oxygen (Amin et al., 2021). The scenario did not indicate any bronchodilators nor glucocorticoids being administered. Depending on the patient’s dynamics, some of these medications need to be considered.
The patient is currently showing signs of improvement. However, the patient is also experiencing stomach discomfort, nausea, and vomiting, likely due to antibiotic therapy. I will keep the patient on antibiotics since they are necessary for his treatment. However, I will add an antiemetic such as ondansetron (Zofran) intravenous 4 mg for every six hours to control the symptoms.
I will also change the type of antibiotic he is currently on since the patient’s status is improving. I should consider changing the current therapy to include trimethoprim (sulfamethoxazole), the drug of choice for Hemophilus influenzae, gram-negative bacilli, in upper respiratory infections (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2021). Staphylococcus aureus is gram-positive cocci that can be penicillinase-producing or methicillin-resistant; in this case, the first drug of choice is vancomycin (daptomycin) (Ding et al., 2018).
Alternative drugs for treating Streptococcus pneumoniae are azithromycin, levofloxacin, meropenem, imipenem, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Mycoplasma pneumoniae is a mycoplasma bacteria that one of the first choice antibiotics is azithromycin (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2021). The fourth-generation cephalosporin has a narrow pseudomonas aeruginosa (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2021). Cefepime is a fourth-generation cephalosporin with the highest activity against gram-negative bacteria (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2021). According to Metlay et al. (2019), appropriate antibiotic combination therapy for community-acquired pneumonia might include ceftriaxone, cefotaxime, ceftaroline, ertapenem, or ampicillin-sulbactam with azithromycin, clarithromycin, clarithromycin XL or Doxycycline.
Based on this scenario, my treatment plan would be to stop the ceftriaxone first and then start cefepime. I will keep the route of administration unchanged since IV antibiotics are preferred because of the high mortality associated with community-acquired pneumonia and the unmeasurable absorption of antibiotics in the GI tract (Metlay et al., 2019). Adding to the fact that the patient is not currently showing hemodynamic stability or functional normal gastrointestinal tract that would tolerate PO medications.
As the patient proceeds with therapy, it is essential to ensure the administration of a bronchodilator and antibiotic together. Fluoroquinolones help inhibit the two enzymes involved in the synthesis of DNA (Pham et al., 2019). The bronchodilator makes breathing easier by relaxing the muscles in the lungs and widening the airways (Pham et al., 2019).
The patient needs to know his symptoms, what to expect during admission, stay period, and discharge. Most patients admitted with CAP have at least one lingering symptom of pneumonia for 6 weeks post-discharge, such as cough, fatigue, or difficulty breathing (Metlay et al., 2019). I would also educate the patient on preventive measures such as pneumococcal influenza vaccines, especially recommended for adults older than 65 years old (Rosenthal & Burchum, 2021). My education plan will also include taking daily Zinc and Vitamin C and smoke cessation, if applicable; it is also important that a patient diet is considered, which helps manage the patient’s diabetic condition. Therefore, a balanced diet and regular exercise help in managing the condition. These measures will help improve patient outcomes, reduce reinfection, and prevent future hospitalization.
References
Amin, A. N., Cornelison, S., Woods, J. A., & Hanania, N. A. (2021). Managing hospitalized patients with a COPD exacerbation: the role of hospitalists and the multidisciplinary team. Postgraduate Medicine, (just-accepted). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00325481.2021.2018257
Ding, W., Zhou, Y., Qu, Q., Cui, W., God’spower, B. O., Liu, Y., … & Li, Y. (2018). Azithromycin inhibits biofilm formation by Staphylococcus xylosus and affects histidine biosynthesis pathway. Frontiers in Pharmacology, 9, 740. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2018.00740/full
Metlay, J. P., Waterer, G. W., Long, A. C., Anzueto, A., Brozek, J., Crothers, K., … & Whitney, C. G. (2019). Diagnosis and treatment of adults with community-acquired pneumonia. An official clinical practice guideline of the American Thoracic Society and Infectious Diseases Society of America. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 200(7), e45-e67. https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1164/rccm.201908-1581st
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Pham, T. D., Ziora, Z. M., & Blaskovich, M. A. (2019). Quinolone antibiotics. Medchemcomm, 10(10), 1719-1739. https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2019/md/c9md00120d
Quinton, L. J., Walkey, A. J., & Mizgerd, J. P. (2018). Integrative physiology of pneumonia. Physiological Reviews, 98(3), 1417-1464. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/physrev.00032.2017
Rosenthal, L. D., & Burchum, J. R. (2021). Lehne’s Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Practice Nurses and Physician Assistants. Elsevier.