Brunner & Suddarth's Textbook of Medical-Surgical Nursing 13th Edition by Kerry Cheever, Janice Hinkle

Exercise 2

A community-dwelling older woman is admitted to the hospital with a hipfracture after falling at home.She is now 72 hours post hip fracture repair.Initialshift assessment reveals the patient to be confused and somewhat combative inbehavior. You know that changes in mental status may be an early sign of sepsis inolder adults. How would you assess this patient for the possibility of sepsis? What riskfactors place an older patient at higher risk for sepsis? What risk factors does thispatient have that placed her at increased risk for sepsis? How would you ensure theaccuracy of vital signs and interpretation of vital signs in the older patientexperiencing sepsis? What is the evidence base for these risk factors? How would themanagement of the older adult patient differ from that of a younger patient?