Review of the Patient's Condition. Healthcare Essay Sample.

Reflecting upon the patients condition, the condition of strep throat involves a sore throat characterized with mild fever as a result of infection with streptococcal. The patient had a history of attack by strep throat before which could explain the reason behind her current condition. Some of the distinct symptoms include fever and sore throat. Having not had any contact with a strep patient before, the explanation behind her condition could have been dictated by her previous infection with strep which she confesses to have had.

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Ordinarily, any normal person have temperature level of 370c or an equivalent of 98.60F and heart rate range between 60 and 100 beats per minute. Besides, normal blood pressure range between 120/80 and 140/90 values (Webb & Swift, 2008). However, the patient in this case expressed discretionary abnormality across the entire spectrum. In particular, the above measures appeared as follows: body temperatures of 1010F, blood pressure 96/64 and a heart rate of 22 beats per minute. Besides, she tested positive with bilateral tonsillar swelling from the evaluation of her head, throat, ears, nose, and eyes. Other features of the patient included: supple neck comprising of tender, bilateral and inflamed anterior cervical nodes.

Differential Diagnosis

Sore throat also referred to as the Pharyngitis can be subjected to differential diagnoses. This case is subject to Infectious mononucleosis type of differential diagnosis. In particular, the considerations of this approach are the analysis of the clinical traits of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) form of infectious mononucleosis. One fundamental consideration through this diagnosis is that, Infectious Mononucleosis is a typical contributor of Pharyngitis on patients across all ages. However, this infection is particularly common among young adults. With this background, the consideration of infectious mononucleosis is forestalled. In this regard, the patient history is an important attributes of the procedural aspect of the diagnosis. Besides, physical examination is very critical to understanding both current and past condition of the patient (McPhee & Papadakis, 2010). In particular, it would reveal instances such as the splenic rupture that would inform the best treatment procedure for the patient.

Importance of Patients History

The initial diagnosis for the condition was based on thorough scrutiny of the patients history. In particular, the historical review of the patient provides cues to the causes and reasons behind the considerations of past contacts with strep patients. In addition, the history also informs the most probable level of complexity with regard to the growth level of the infectious virus. In most cases, when diagnosis is performed on a patient like in this case, the period between infection and diagnosis is fundamental in understanding the level of adversity that it has generated. Besides, this history also informs the physician of the possible prior interventions that the patients have sort before in order to evaluate possible resistance that the patients body might have offered on particular medication (John & Joshua, 2013). However, lack of prior medication to the problem as in the case of this patient would inform the physician to undertake the formal approach to the treatment of the condition bearing in mind, no resistance have been reported since the patient records no previous medication. This is therefore very important overall in enhancing treatment option that the patient may be subscribed to.

Other Traits of Differential Diagnosis & Treatment

Finally, differential diagnosis is also characterized with fever at relatively low expression although chills are relatively uncommon. In this regard, the physician should also evaluate instances of chronic fatigue which is one of the main symptoms to infections with the Infectious Mononucleosis. Additional physical symptoms include anorexia and nausea though devoid of vomiting. This causes discomfort on the patient and may create additional physical strains to maintain normal posture by the patient (Makower & Chang, 2010). Other major diagnostic traits include chest pain, photophobia, ocular muscle pains and cough among others. In this regard, the main predisposing risk factor though the patient denies is a close contact with an EBV patient. In treatment of this condition, the patient should take a deep rest while the physician closely monitors her from the extreme tonsillar enlargement manifested through the obstruction of the airways.

References

John, C. Y., & Joshua, M. (2013). U.S. Patent No. 8,425,457. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and trademark Office.

Makower, J., & Chang, J. Y. (2010). U.S. Patent No. 7,654,997. Washington, DC: U.S. Patentand Trademark Office.

McPhee, S. J., & Papadakis, M. A. (Eds.). (2010). Current Medical Diagnosis & Treatment2012. New York:: McGraw-Hill Medical.

Webb, C. J., Moots, R. J., & Swift, A. C. (2008). Ear, nose and throat manifestations of Behcet'sdisease: a review. The Journal of Laryngology & Otology, 122(12), 1279-1283.