Acute Diverticulitis Essay -- Diseases, Disorders

On my third day of clinical course I had an African America patient age 72, female, a retired high school teacher who was admitted for an Acute Diverticulitis with Perforation. She is diabetic and had a medical and surgical history of diverticulitis, High Cholesterol, Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus (NIDDM), Hysterectomy, and Scoliosis. She has been on clear liquid diet since she was admitted then she was Nothing by Mouth NPO for the CT scan for that day. When I got the assignment that I was going to be taking care of a patient with an acute diverticulitis, the first thing on my mind was that she will be in a severe abdominal pain, high fever due to infection because my aunty had same disease. To my surprise, she claimed a 0 /10 on a 0-10 pain scale. Her blood sugar and vital signs were normal except for respiratory that was 22. All her laboratory test results were normal including WBC. Patient concern was that she couldn’t have a bowel movement. She was me dicated on Colace- a stool softener, morphine for pain, sulfran for nausea, and azactam an antibiotics. Diverticulosis is a disease from the diverticulum. This is when the colon wall is been outpunched through the mucosa. These are small mucosal herniation bulging via smooth muscle and layers of the intestine along vasa recta formed opening in colon’s wall. Diverticulitis causes is still unknown but develop after a micro or macro perforation of diverticulum. Peritonitis is an end result from an intestinal rupture in the case of a large perforation. Clinically, diverticulosis could be asymptomatic or symptomatic, they are uncomplicated with no evidence of bleeding or inflammation. Signs and symptoms includes palpable mass and tenderness mostly i... ...an seven 6-ounce of glasses of fluid each day most especially for patients on pharmaceutical fiber supplements. Works Cited Ferzoco, K.H. (2010). Small bowel diverticulitis. The New England Journal of Medicine. 327: 302-7 Juchems, A.A. (2010). Long-term management of diverticulitis in young patients. Diseases of the Colon & Rectum. 58:627-629. Marinella, L.B. et al: (2010). Acute Diverticulitis. The New England Journal of Medicine. 327: 1521-1526 Painter, P.V. (2009). Diverticulitis. Gastroenterology Clinics of North America. 18:357-385. Spivak, W.K., & deSouza, J.M. (2008). Diverticulitis of the right colon. Digestive diseases and sciences. 49: 350-358 Wilcox, C.V. (2009). Limitation in the CT diagnosis of acute diverticulitis: Comparison of CT, contrast enema, pathologic findings in 16 patients. American Journal of Roentgenology. 201:381-385.