W- Patient Safety

Management of the acutely ill patient can occur in various areas of the acute care setting. The ACNP must be
proficient in managing various conditions in the emergency department, inpatient unit, or the critical care unit.
For this assignment, you will explore the management strategies of one acute illness in three various settings.
• Pick one acute illness that you will likely see in the acute care setting.
• Provide a brief overview of the pathophysiology of this condition.
• Discuss common signs and symptoms and consider unique presentation of this condition.
• Discuss how this condition is ultimately diagnosed.
• Discuss how the patient will be managed in the emergency department (Consider initial lab tests, medications,
imaging, etc).
• Discuss criteria for admission or discharge from the emergency department. If the patient is to be admitted,
discuss when you would consider the critical care unit vs the other inpatient units.
• Discuss how this condition is managed in the inpatient (noncritical) setting (Include medications, education,
consultations, diagnostics, etc).
• Discuss criteria for considering admission to the intensive care unit.
• Discuss management strategies for intensive monitoring of this condition.
• Finally discuss discharge planning for this scenario and consider when the patient is stable enough to be
discharged home, to a skilled nursing facility, rehabilitation, or other outpatient center.
• Your Paper should include a minimum of three peer-reviewed references from scholarly articles no more than 5
years old.
• Your paper must include 1 national guideline.
• Please refer to the rubric for additional guidance.