Workbook Diseases of the Human Body Essay Example for Free

Workbook Diseases of the Human Body Essay Assignment: For each scenario that follows, explain how and why you would schedule an appointment or suggest a referral based on the patient’s reported symptoms. Be sure to first review the â€Å"Guidelines for Patient-Screening Exercises† found on page iii in the Introduction section of your Workbook. A male patient calls for an appointment. He reports experiencing the sudden onset of excessive thirst and urination. He says that he is thirsty all the time and cannot seem to get enough to drink. How do you respond to this phone call? This patient suffering from a sudden urge to drink fluids as well as excessive urination is a sign of polydipsia. What polydipsia means is excessive thirst and a way one may have this condition is to have diabetes mellitus, which means there is an excessive amount of glucose in a persons blood which travels in the bloodstream and increases the symptoms that this patient is experiences (Polydipsia, 2008). In this case, the patient needs to be seen right away to be evaluated by their physician. A female patient calls the office and says she thinks she has swelling in her neck and is beginning to experience difficulty swallowing. How do you respond to this phone call? When the female patient called, she was on the phone talking about her neck swelling and how it was difficult to swallow things. In this case, I would schedule an appointment for a physical because she may be suffering from simple goiter which means her thyroid glands are enlarged and I would advise her not to worry because it wont be cancerous but her medical history should be reviewed and see if there is any reason for this to be happening or if it just came out of no where (Dugdale, 2012). An individual calls the office stating he is experiencing periods of rapid heartbeat and palpitations, insomnia, nervousness, and excitability. He states that despite excessive appetite and food ingestion, he is losing weight. How do you respond to this call? I would listen to what the patient has to say and after noting the symptoms suggest he may have hypoglycemia. What this basically means is low blood sugar also known as insulin shock and his blood sugar may be below 70 mg and in some cases it can be very deadly so I would tell him to go to the emergency room immediately and have his blood sugars taken care of before serious harm will happen (A.D.A.M., 2012). A woman calls the office stating that her husband, who has been diagnosed with diabetes, is experiencing excessive thirst, nausea, drowsiness, and abdominal pain. She just noticed a fruity odor on his breath. She wants to know what to do. How do you respond to this call? I would listen to the womans explanations of what her husband is going through and suggest that he may be going through something known as ketoacidosis. The reason ketoacidosis gives a fruity odor off is because the body is trying to get rid of excess acetone in the breath. This can be a very life threatening issue and I would advise going to the emergency room as soon as possible (Medline Plus, 2010). A patient calls the office saying she has started experiencing weight loss, excessive thirst, excessive hunger, and frequent urination. She also tells you her mother and aunt have diabetes. She says she just does not feel right. How do you respond to this call? With the way this woman was explaining her problems describes diabetes mellitus because if ones blood sugars are high it can cause everything that this woman is experiencing and I would advise her to see a physician promptly for and evaluation and to make sure her levels are not too elevated (Wikipedia, 2012). Sources: A.D.A.M. (2012). Pubmed health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001423/ Dugdale, D. (2012, June 4). Pubmed health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002161/ Medline Plus. (2010, Feburary 22). Breath odor causes and considerations. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003058.htm Polydipsia. (2008). Retrieved from http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/polydipsia Wikipedia. (2012, August 16). Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diabetes_mellitus