Nursing Care for the Hip Fracture Patients with Hip Arthroplasty and Atrial Fibrillation : Case study

Abstract

Hip fracture is a common condition in the elderly and the incidence of this condition tends to increase in line with the rising elderly population around the world. Therefore, it can affect our everyday life due to being limited movements. Patients are unable to perform their normal daily activities or duties; thus, it is an illness of being dependent and a burden on others. Furthermore, for the patients with atrial fibrillation, their symptoms will be palpitation, irregular heartbeat and, in some cases, severe symptoms when the ventricle contracts very quickly while the peripheral pulse is found to be slower than the heart rate. If the rate of ventricle contraction remains very fast for a long time, patients will develop symptoms of left ventricle failure.

In this case study, a 75-year-old woman had the condition of right hip pain and could not stand and walk due to the reason that a cat ran into and hit her leg then she fell and bump down on the ground. At first, she was brought to a community hospital for treatment and then was sent to the Uthaitani Hospital. At that time, the patient was fully conscious, painful in her right hip, and be unable to get up and walk. She had slightly swollen and bruised right hip; the right leg was shorter than the left leg. The doctor diagnosed the condition as a femoral neck fracture. Following up with the patient’s treatment history, she had high blood pressure and atrial fibrillation. After that, the doctor prescribed the treatment by pulling weight on the right leg with 3 kilograms of weight and consulted with a physician to take care of atrial fibrillation. After surgery, the patient had hard time with the surgical wound pains on the first day. The nurse provides care to the patient to relieve pain by giving analgesics according to the doctor's treatment plan together with guiding the proper lying position so that the patient can feel comfortable and take a rest effectively. The patient's condition gradually improved until she was able to get up and walk better with walkers while the total hospital stay was in the duration of 6 days.

This study aims to present basic knowledge of the total hip arthroplasty, nursing care for hip fracture patients who have had total hip arthroplasty and atrial fibrillation. While the nurses play several nursing roles which include assessment, diagnosis, practice, result evaluation, taking care and following up each case closely to ensure that patients who have had total hip arthroplasty receive safe post-operative care and no complications occurred.