Case: An elderly widow who just lost her spouse.
Subjective: A patient presents to your primary care office today with a chief complaint of insomnia.
The patient is 75 YO with PMH of DM, HTN, and MDD. Her husband of 41 years passed away 10 months ago. Since then, she states her depression has gotten worse, as well as her sleep habits. The patient has no previous history of depression prior to her husband’s death. She is awake, alert, and oriented x3. The patient normally sees PCP once or twice a year. The patient denies any suicidal ideations. The patient arrived at the office today by private vehicle. The patient currently takes the following medications:
Metformin 500mg BID
Januvia 100mg daily
Losartan 100mg daily
HCTZ 25mg daily
Sertraline 100mg daily
Additional information:
Current weight: 88 kg
Current height: 64 inches
Temp: 98.6 degrees F
BP: 132/86
You must address each of the following items within your main post.
List three questions you might ask the patient if she were in your office.
Provide a rationale for why you might ask these questions.
Identify people in the patient’s life you would need to speak to or get feedback from to further assess the patient’s situation. Include specific questions you might ask these people and why.
Explain what, if any, physical exams and diagnostic tests would be appropriate for the patient and how the results would be used.
List three differential diagnoses for the patient. Identify the one that you think is most likely and explain why.
List two pharmacologic agents and their dosing that would be appropriate for the patient’s antidepressant therapy based on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. From a mechanism of action perspective, provide a rationale for why you might choose one agent over the other.
For the drug therapy, you select and identify any contraindications to use or alterations in dosing that may need to be considered based on ethical prescribing or decision-making.
Discuss why the contraindication/alteration you identify exists. That is, what would be problematic with the use of this drug in individuals based on ethical prescribing guidelines or decision-making?
Include any “checkpoints” (i.e., follow-up data at Week 4, 8, 12, etc.), and indicate any therapeutic changes that you might make based on possible outcomes that may happen given your treatment options chosen.
