Applied physiology for Adult Nursing

Essay Description: The essay is a 3000-word critical evaluation of a case study. 3000 is the maximum word count. Students must choose one case study from a choice of five, and critically evaluate the patient`s primary medical condition, and its management. The aim of the essay is to develop the student`s ability to apply knowledge of physiology, pathophysiology, and patient management to clinical practice.

The essay must include the following elements, which should be presented under sub- headings.

Introduction

• A brief introduction to the topic of your essay, including which case study you will be writing about.
• Briefly introduce the disease and explain why it is an important topic for evaluation - this this may relate to its prevalence, impact on the individual, cost to the NHS or other factors.

Epidemiology

• Briefly discuss the epidemiology of the chosen disease and relate this to the patient in the case study.
• Discuss risk factors for the disease and evaluate to what extent these may have influenced disease development in the case study individual.

Normal physiology

• Explain the normal physiology relevant to the disease that you are discussing.
• Ensure that the focus is on physiology relevant to your patient`s disease. You will lose marks if you discuss physiology that is clearly not relevant.

Pathophysiology

• Explain how normal physiology is altered by the disease in question, using clinical data from the case study to illustrate this.
• Discuss the effect that the disease has on people, for example symptoms, quality of life, disability, premature death. Evaluate to what degree these problems have affected the person in the case study.

Patient management

• Critically evaluate the care of the individual in the case study, with reference to published literature, research and clinical guidelines
• Your evaluation should include an in-depth critique of two relevant issues. At least one of these issues must relate to drug therapy.

Conclusion

• Briefly summarise the key points of your essay.

Reference list

• All sections of this work should be supported by good quality, up to date references.
• All of the references used in your essay should be listed in alphabetical order by author surname, using Harvard style referencing.