Harmeet.

M
Unit 3 :SNC4M
Hospital Visit Case Study

1. Describe at least three new characteristics about Linda after reading her
patient history?
After reading Linda’s patient history, there can be many observations being made. As
shown in her history, she has many sorts of problems. According to her past medical
history, one new characteristic is that she has an allergy called Penicillin which causes
itchiness and irritation on skin. She also has pain in the upper abdomen and chest,
nausea, and shortness of breath. Secondly, Linda was diagnosed with hypertension,
extremely high blood pressure, and hypercholesterolemia, excessive cholesterol in the
bloodstream six years ago. The third characteristic is she has smoking addiction and has
been for 25 years. She started off smoking a pack a day to one or two cigarettes a day.

2. This image below illustrates a normal ECG tracing, as well as three

different abnormalities. Which abnormality is present in Linda’s case? List
the possible causes of the abnormality.
After looking at Linda’s case, I would say that she portrays all the abnormalities in a way.
The most common abnormality I see is elevation. This is shown by comparing Linda’s
scan and the Normal ECG tracing diagram along with three different abnormalities. As
looking at all the diagrams very carefully I see the scan forming a U- like pattern then
decreasing pattern which matches with the elevation abnormality. The possible causes
of this abnormality is “Acute myocardial infarction, Coronary vasospasm (Prinzmetal's
angina), Pericarditis, Benign early repolarization, Left bundle Brugada syndrome and
Raised intracranial pressure” (Buttner 2021).

3. What is your diagnosis for Linda’s condition at this time? Provide

reasoning to back up your diagnosis.
As Linda originally has high blood pressure, this can be shown because her heart rate is
94 beats/min. A Typical pulse measurement ranges from 60 to 100 beats per minute as
stated from the course notes. Another thing that was shown was Linda’s typical blood
pressure 136/87 mmHg which is relatively high for her age. This clearly explains why she
has hypertension. “High blood pressure can cause hardening and thickening of the
arteries (atherosclerosis), which can lead to a heart attack, stroke or other
complications.” (mayo clinic). This is very bad because six years ago, Linda was
diagnosed with Hypertension, this was simply because of her mothers family and
genetics. Her mother had hypertension and cardiovascular disease and is now deceased
at the age of 65. I would personally say that she is still diagnosed with hypertension but
she still can be on the rise of developing cardiovascular diseases,strokes etc. I personally

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 Harmeet. M
Unit 3 :SNC4M
believe that she does the blood pressure measurements tests twice to make sure that
test is more accurate because of the current situation and her family history. There are
two measurements recorded in the test:” how the blood is circulating and the pressure
of the heart.” (ncbi 2013).
So to sum this all up, her age and positive family history of diseases can easily
contribute to her having high blood pressure as well. The increase in blood pressure with
age is mostly associated with the structural changes in arteries and lungs (Pinto 2007.
Since she is a very smoker, it can damage her lungs which then creates changes in her
body.

Since her heart rate is high, her vitals are directly related to the elevation in her ECG
reading as well. This causes her to have a low oxygen level in her blood because as
mentioned before in her complaint with having shortness of breath along with the nurse
needing to place a nasal cannula in her nose to help in Linda’s breathing. Logically,
breathing problems can also be caused by heavy smoking. As additional research has
shown that smoking raises the heart rate by tightens the main arteries, and can induce
an irregular heart rhythm, all of which makes it harder for the heart to function
(“Smoking and Your Heart | Texas Heart Institute,” 2020).

Therefore, I personally believe that she needs to look more carefully at her blood
pressure measurements and be more cautious and care-taking of her health and body
then she may be able to lower the chances of having one of the mentioned diseases in
her family history.

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 Harmeet. M
Unit 3 :SNC4M

References

Buttner, E. B., & Zach. (2021, March 23). The ST Segment • LITFL • ECG Library

Basics. Retrieved from https://litfl.com/st-segment-ecg-library/

High blood pressure (hypertension). (2021, January 16). Retrieved from

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-pressure/sympto

ms-causes/syc-20373410#:~:text=High blood pressure can cause,it can be

life-threatening.

PE;, R. S. (n.d.). Heart rate and blood pressure: Any possible implications for

management of hypertension? Retrieved from

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22972532/

Pickering, D., & Stevens, S. (2013). How to measure and record blood pressure.

Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3936692/

Smoking and Your Heart. (2020, September 30). Retrieved from

https://www.texasheart.org/heart-health/heart-information-center/topics/smo

king-and-your-heart/#:~:text=Research has shown that smoking,increases

the risk of stroke.

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