Real Patient Education Plan 5 for the NUR 427 Course
Patient is a 45 year old male that presented to the family physician office to follow up on his recent diagnosis of high blood pressure that was noticed during his annual physical examination at the company he is working for. He has a high pressure position at his job and he is expected to meet certain sale quota each month and admitted to feel stressed sometimes. Patient has a lot of responsibility due to his family dynamics and his aging parent. He is married for 18 years with three kids. He is a college graduate with an Associate degree in Business. Patient is slightly overweight and also has a family history of high blood pressure, which is his mother. He is a non smoker but drinks on occasional weekends; he also has a family history of high blood pressure as well. He is anxious about his disease because he has no knowledge about it.
High blood pressure (Hypertension)
“Hypertension is usually defined in adults as systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg or higher or diastolic blood pressure of 90 mm Hg or higher” (Chobanian AV et al 2003). It is when the pressure in the arteries is more than what it should normally be. High blood pressure affects men more than women. There are many factors that contribute to high blood pressure, lifestyle, diet, genetics and some of unknown origin. “In men, cardiovascular diseases (CVD) increase steadily by the age of 35 years, and reach a plateau in the 7th decade of life” (Lombardi, M. et al 2010).
Signs and symptoms
High blood pressure has no sign signs or symptoms that can be easy noted until it is late except during routine physical and blood pressure checks. Many people go for so many years without knowing of the disease, while only few has infrequent headaches which is also associated with high blood pressure.
Age and symptoms
Probability for developing high blood pressure increases with age. “About one out of three U.S. adults—31.3%—has high blood pressure” (National Center for Health Statistics 2008). Narrowing of the arteries is one of the age associated causes of high blood pressure; larger blood volume going through the narrow...[continues]