Identified patient

Some nursing homes or extended care facilities have pictures of the patient available, which allows the nurse to verify the correct patient. If pictures are used to identify patients, it is critical that they are recent and bear a good likeness of the individual. 

The nursing process is a framework for nursing action consisting of problem-solving steps that help members of the health care team provide effective patient care. It is both a specific and orderly plan used to identify patient problems, develop and implement a plan of action, and then evaluate the results of nursing activities, including the administration of drug . 

Verheul et al. (2004) pooled data from seven European acamprosate studies in an effort to identify patient-related predictors of response to the medication. Although they examined a number of potential predictors, including patients level of physiological dependence before treatment, family history of alcoholism, age of onset of alcoholism, baseline anxiety symptom severity, baseline craving, and gender, none was shown to interact with acamprosate treatment. These findings led the authors to conclude that, although the effect size for acamprosate was moderate, the medication can be considered potentially effective for all patients with alcohol dependence. 

The serum creatinine is measured to identify patients who may need dosing adjustments for some medications, as well as those who are at high risk of morbidity and mortality. 

During hospitalization, a measurement of left ventricular function, such as an echocardiogram, is performed to identify patients with low ejection fractions (less than 40%) who are at high risk of death following hospital discharge. 

Step 9 Identify Patients with the Metabolic Syndrome... 

Identifying patients at high risk for development of acute renal failure and implementing preventive methods to decrease its occurrence or severity is critical. 

Use serum TSH to identify patients with hypothyroidism and to monitor LT4 replacement therapy. 

Identify patients with significant cardiovascular risk and recommend an appropriate... 

New-onset DM prevention consists mainly of identifying patients at risk before transplantation and controlling modifiable risk factors both before and after transplantation.74 The major modifiable risk factors are choice of immunosuppressive therapy and body mass index (BMI). For example,... 

Peripheral bone mineral density measurements cannot be used for diagnosis because they do not correlate with central measurements. However, they are useful in identifying patients who are candidates for central DXA and who are at increased risk of fracture.5 It also may be useful in patients who have had multiple fractures or in low-risk patients. Additionally, peripheral measurement of bone mineral density generally is less expensive than central DXA and is easily accessible. Instruments used for peripheral bone densitometry are portable, which allows bone density to be measured in pharmacies and health-fair screening booths. 

NSAIDs are a reasonable alternative when acetaminophen fails to provide an acceptable analgesic response. Some authorities recommend NSAIDs over acetaminophen for patients presenting with severe pain or signs and symptoms of inflammation, but this is a matter of much contention. The rationale for this recommendation is that acetaminophen s central mechanism of action renders it ineffective against peripheral joint inflammation, and therefore, less effective.18 Consensus guidelines support the use of NSAIDs as an alternative to acetaminophen if clinical features of peripheral inflammation or severe pain are detected.11,12 Unfortunately there is no validated mechanism to identify patients who are more likely to respond to NSAIDs than acetaminophen. 

Identify patients in whom maintenance therapy for gout and hyperuricemia is warranted. 

In AIT, patient selection is critical. The allergic cause of AR should be verified by history and skin or blood tests. Additionally, the responsible antigen(s) must be identified. Patients who may benefit from AIT include those who do not tolerate traditional drug therapy (e.g., nosebleeds with intranasal steroids and sedation with antihistamines), suffer from severe symptoms, have comorbid conditions (e.g., asthma and sinusitis), fail drug therapy, or prefer not to take long-term medication.11 22"24... 

Identify patient and organism factors required to guide the selection of a specific antimicrobial regimen for an individual patient. 

Proper diagnosis of bacterial upper respiratory tract infections is crucial to identify patients who require antibiotics to avoid unnecessary antibiotic use. 

Identify patient symptoms as early or late sepsis and evaluate diagnostic and laboratory tests for patient treatment and monitoring. 

It is important to note that the magnitude of survival benefit for chemotherapy appears to be small, with an absolute reduction in mortality of only 5% at 10 years for patients with negative axillary lymph nodes and 10% for patients with positive axillary lymph nodes. In addition, there is currently no means to identify patients who will attain this survival benefit. However,... 

There are no well-defined clinical characteristics or established tests to identify patients likely to benefit from chemotherapy. Factors associated with an increased probability of response that have been identified include a good performance status, a limited number (one to two) of disease sites, and patients who respond to chemotherapy or hormonal therapy with a long disease-free interval. Patients who have progressive disease during chemotherapy have a lower probability of response to a different type of chemotherapy. However, this is not necessarily true for patients who are given chemotherapy after some interval during which they have received no chemotherapy. Patients who do not respond to endocrine therapy are as likely to respond to chemotherapy as patients who are treated with chemotherapy as their initial treatment modality. Age, menopausal status, and receptor status have not been associated with favorable or unfavorable response to chemotherapy. 

The first step before delivering specialized nutrition support is to perform a nutritional assessment and determine nutrient requirements based on the patient s nutritional status and clinical conditions. Collect subjective and objective data to determine a patient s level of nutrition, to identify patients with malnutrition or at risk for malnutrition, and to identify risk factors that may put a patient at risk for nutrition-related problems.1 A nutrition assessment should include 1,19... 

One of the biggest challenges in pharmacogenomics will be our ability to identify patients who are likely to show increased susceptibility to microbial infections as well as to identify determinants of pathogenic potential in microbes that are ob-... 

The association between low TPMT activity and excessive hematological toxicity has been recognized [31, 35, 37]. Molecular analysis of the TPMT genotype is able to identify patients at risk for acute toxicity from thiopurines. A recent study involving 180 children identified that the TPMT genotype plays an important role in a patients tolerance to 6-MP therapy [51]. Two of the patients, who were TPMT-de-... 

A family history positive for CHD is important in identifying patients at risk for premature atherosclerosis. If a patient with CHD has elevated triglycerides, the associated abnormality is probably a contributing factor to CHD and should be treated. 

Kurth, J.H., "Pharmacogenomics A Genetic Tool for Identifying Patients at Risk," Drug Inform.., 34, 223-227 (2000). 

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