Instructions

Assignment Objectives: 

• Identify and select appropriate interventions including diagnostic tests and nursing interventions. 
• Analyze physiological and psychological responses to illness and treatment modalities

Purpose: Examine case studies related to neurologic disease and answer the assigned questions. This assignment should help refine your clinical/critical thinking skills.

Assignment Description: 

• Describe the pathophysiology of extradural and subdural hematomas.
• Identify the surgical emergency and provided rationale for the choice.
• Describe the most likely type of head injury and outline an appropriate treatment plan. 
• Your answer must follow APA 7th edition format.
• Submit the answer to this assignment area.

Patient 1 – Two individuals come to the emergency department with head injuries. One, 25 years old, has just been in a motor vehicle accident (MVA) and has a temporal lobe injury. The other, 65 years old, has increasing confusion after a fall that happened earlier in the week.

a. Differentiate the pathophysiology of extradural hematoma and subdural hematoma.

b. Identify the patient in the above scenario requiring immediate emergency surgical intervention and provide rationale for your choice.

Patient 2 – An 38 year old was driving his 1970 Chevy Corvette to a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game when a deer jumped out in front of him on the highway. He swerved his car and hit a telephone pole instead. His head hit the windshield and he suffered severe head trauma.

a. Describe the most likely specific type of head injury he suffered.

b. Outline the treatment plan for this patient.