Comorbidities in Complex Patients: Digestive

Presented by Cheryl Lehman

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Video Runtime: 25 Minutes

This course gives students an overview of medical co-morbidities that can be found in the post-acute care setting, focusing on digestive system problems. Examples of medical co-morbidities associated with undernutrition and liver cirrhosis will be shared, along with clinical pearls on focusing assessment and interventions on managing the complex patient. Participants will gain a renewed focus on medical co-morbidities and the required nursing skills to competently care for these patients and prevent hospital readmissions. This course is appropriate for licensed nurses working in any setting, but particularly targets those in rehabilitation, long term care and home health.

This course is a part of a series discussing comorbidities in complex patients, including the following topics:

Cardiac and Vascular | Pulmonary | Renal | Neurologic | Endocrine | Digestive | Hematologic

Meet your instructor

Cheryl Lehman

Dr. Cheryl Lehman has been a registered nurse since graduating from the Decatur Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in 1978. Since that time, she earned a BSN from Maryville University-St. Louis in 1990; an MSN in Adult Health Nursing from the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston in the Clinical Nurse…

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Chapters & learning objectives

Undernutrition and Lab Values

1. Undernutrition and Lab Values

This chapter reviews a variety of digestive conditions that are often seen in the patient population in the post-acute setting. Post-acute care nurses must be aware of and knowledgeable about the types of digestive conditions that may be diagnosed in patients admitted to their setting. Digestive conditions that are seen in post-acute care have the real potential to result in patient complications such as pain, perforation or electrolyte imbalances.

Liver Cirrhosis

2. Liver Cirrhosis

This chapter addresses complications from liver cirrhosis and the implications for nurses caring for patients in post-acute care. Important features of knowledge, assessment and interventions will be addressed.