Friday, January 31, 2020

Pancreatitis and Peptic Ulcer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Pancreatitis and Peptic Ulcer - Essay Example Pancreatitis is caused by autoimmune problems, damage to the pancreas, blockage of the pancreatic ducts, hypertriglyceridemia, certain medications, complications of certain diseases and viral infections. The symptoms of pancreatitis include upper or middle abdominal pain, fever, vomiting, sweating, weight loss, jaundice and clay-colored stools. Pancreatitis complications include kidney failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pacreatitis cysts, heart failure and low blood pressure. Pancreatitis is treated through fasting, intravenous fluids, pain medication, removal of blockages and gallstones, draining of fluid in pancreas and diet regulation. (PubMed Health). A peptic ulcer is an open sore in the lining of the stomach (gastric ulcer), the duodenum (duodenal ulcer), or sometimes in the oesophagus (esophageal ulcer). When the mucuos membrane which protects the alimentary canal from digestive juices and acids is damaged, stomach acids penetrate the sensitive lining underneath, causing an ulcer. Peptic ulcer is caused by the bacterium, Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), which is transmitted through contaminated food and water, and spreads through contact witth the stool, vomit and saliva of infected persons. Petic ulcers are also caused by the long-term use of non-steroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) and stomach tumors. The symptoms of peptic ulcers are abdominal pain, loss of weight and appetite, and vomiting. Complications include peritonitis, internal bleeding and blockage of the alimentary canal. Treatment of peptic ulcers consists of antibiotics to eradicate H. pylori and acid reducing medicines.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

Nursing: Lifting, Transferring And Positioning Of Patients Essay

Nursing: Lifting, Transferring and Positioning of Patients ABSTRACT Lifting, transferring and positioning of patients is frequently undertaken by nurses on each working day. This is necessary for patient comfort, medical reasons and completion of self care needs. Lifting can be done in numerous ways. As well as the nurse physically lifting or moving patients, a number of devices are also available to assist in the transfer of patients. These range from straps that are attached to or placed under the patients, to mechanical hoists and lifters. Any assistance the nurse has is beneficial for both the patient and the health care worker, as patient's weights are generally heavier than the nurses physical capabilities. This, combined with incorrect lifting techniques, can result in muscle strain, or more seriously, spinal injury for the nurse, and discomfort, muscle strain or further injury for the patient. INTRODUCTION When lifting, transferring or positioning patients, the most important consideration is safety. Any of these procedures need to be undertaken with it in mind. This safety is inclusive of both the patient and the health care worker. Communication is an important part of the lifting process as the nurse should elicit information from the client to find out how and when they prefer to be moved. This allows the patient to be involved in the decision making process and be fully aware of what is occurring. By communicating with the client, the nurse is also aware of whether or not the patient is experiencing any discomfort during or after the lift. The actions of lifting, transferring or positioning need to be completed for numerous reasons, including relief of pressure points. Due to the patient being in one position continuously, they are prone to the development of pressure areas. In terms of patient needs, being in the same position constantly is physically uncomfortable. However, mentally, a change in the immediate surroundings is also beneficial for the patient. It is also necessary for the patient to be moved for completion of their self care needs. This includes their hygiene needs, which include, bathing or showering, elimination, hair, oral and nail care. METHOD When lifting, transferring or positioning patients manually, safety is the most important factor. This safety is for the nurse thems... ... of using the lifters there may not be as much manual lifting necessary. Education about manual handling is also vital to ensure correct lifting techniques are used. Constant re-evaluation of the staff's abilities and methods would ensure safety for both parties involved. This would make staff aware that the least amount of strain placed on the muscles and joints as possible is beneficial to them. The re-evaluation is also important in the fact that it allows the health care worker to be constantly up to date on any new procedures which may be developed. REFERENCES Kozier, B., Erb, G., Blais, K., Wilkinson, J.M. 1995, {italics on} Fundamentals of Nursing {italics off}, 5th Edition, Addison Wesley Publishing Company Inc., United States of America. Love, C. 1995, 'Managing manual handling in clinical situations', {italics on} Nursing Times {italics off}, vol. 91, no. 26, pp. 38-39. Scott, A. 1995, 'Improving patient moving and handling skills', {italics on} Professional Nurse {italics off}, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 105-110. Seymour, J. 1995, 'Handling Aids - Lifting and moving patients', {italics on} Nursing Times {italics off}, vol. 91, no. 27, pp. 48-50.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Bottleneck and non-bottleneck work centers

Eliyahu M Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints (TOC) states that the bottleneck in a work system is the crucial constraint that must be scheduled first in order to achieve maximum system output. All efforts are to go toward scheduling the bottleneck work center, the capacity of which does not meet the demand placed on it and is less than the capacity of all other work centers. TOC uses five steps (Godratt, 1999, p. 3-6), including:Identify the bottleneck. 2. Exploit the bottleneck, maximizing its throughput by streamlining or improving processes, equipment maintenance, training, anything necessary. 3. Subordinate the throughput of all other work centers to the bottleneck. 4. Elevate the status/condition of the bottleneck with additional equipment, staffing, work hours, etc. 5. Inertia is to be avoided. Begin again with Step #1, find the new bottleneck, and continue the 5 steps.One scheduling alternative is to streamline and reduce the amount of setup time needed for the bottleneck . Another is to schedule its activity for additional hours per day and/or days per month. Further, breaks, lunchtime, and intermittent maintenance may be eliminated or rescheduled. Finally, work that does not need to go through the bottleneck can be eliminated by scheduling it to other work centers. MINPRT: Minimum Processing Time is the best scheduling rule to use in order to eliminate a bottleneck.Applying this rule, each next-scheduled job is the one that has 2 the shortest processing time. Since all scheduled jobs are then the shortest jobs, more jobs are completed more quickly so that downstream work centers do not wait for work. Non-bottleneck work centers can be scheduled to include completing their setup after the bottleneck is set up, to use them fewer hours per day and/or days per month, and to schedule them for jobs that do not need to go through the bottleneck.MINSOP: Minimum Slack time per Operation is a scheduling rule that can work well for non-bottlenecks. Using this rule, each next-scheduled job is the one that has the least slack (down) time so that production increases per hour. MINDD: Minimum Due Date may be the best option for non-bottlenecks and includes consistently scheduling the next job that is due first in order to meet due dates effectively. REFERENCES Goldratt, E. M. (December 1999). Theory of Constraints. Great Barrington, MA: North River Press.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Plutons, Defined and Explained

A pluton (pronounced PLOO-tonn) is a deep-seated intrusion of igneous rock, a body that made its way into pre-existing rocks in a melted form (magma) several kilometers underground in the Earths crust and then solidified. At that depth, the magma cooled and crystallized very slowly, allowing the mineral grains to grow large and tightly interlocked — typical of plutonic rocks.   Shallower intrusions may be called subvolcanic or hypabyssal intrusions. There are a slew of partial synonyms based on a plutons size and shape, including batholith, diapir, intrusion, laccolith, and stock.   How Pluton Becomes Visible A pluton exposed at the Earths surface has had its overlying rock removed by erosion. It may represent the deep part of a magma chamber that once fed magma to a long-vanished volcano, like Ship Rock in northwestern New Mexico. It may also represent a magma chamber that never reached the surface, like Stone Mountain  in  Georgia.  The only true way to tell the difference is by mapping and analyzing the details of the rocks that are exposed along with the geology of the surrounding area. The Various Types of Plutons Pluton is a general term that covers the whole variety of shapes taken by bodies of magma. That is, plutons are defined by the presence of plutonic rocks. Narrow sheets of magma that form sills and igneous dikes may qualify as plutons if the rock inside them solidified at depth. Other plutons have fatter shapes that have a roof and a floor. This can be easy to see in a pluton that was tilted so that erosion could cut through it at an angle. Otherwise, it may take geophysical techniques to map the plutons three-dimensional shape. A blister-shaped pluton that raised the overlying rocks into a dome may be called a laccolith. A mushroom-shaped pluton may be called a lopolith, and a cylindrical one may be called a bysmalith. These have a conduit of some sort that fed magma into them, usually called a feeder dike (if its flat) or a stock (if its round). There used to be a whole set of names for other pluton shapes, but they arent really much use and have been abandoned. In 1953, Charles B. Hunt made fun of these in USGS Professional Paper 228 by proposing the name cactolith for a cactus-shaped pluton: A cactolith is a quasihorizontal chonolith composed of anastomosing ductoliths whose distal ends curl like a harpolith, thin like a sphenolith, or bulge discordantly like an akmolith or ethmolith. Who said geologists couldnt be funny?   Then there are plutons that have no floor, or at least no evidence of one. Bottomless plutons like these are called stocks if they are smaller than 100 square kilometers in extent, and batholiths if theyre larger.  In the United States, the Idaho, Sierra Nevada, and Peninsular batholiths are the largest. How Plutons Form The formation and fate of plutons is an important, long-standing scientific problem. Magma is less dense than rock and tends to rise as buoyant bodies. Geophysicists call such bodies diapirs (DYE-a-peers); salt domes are another example. Plutons may readily melt their way upward in the lower crust, but they have a hard time reaching the surface through the cold, strong upper crust. It appears that they need help from regional tectonics that pulls the crust apart—the same thing that favors volcanoes at the surface. Thus plutons, and especially batholiths, go along with subduction zones that create arc volcanism. For a few days in 2006, the International Astronomical Union considered giving the name plutons to large bodies in the outer part of the solar system, apparently thinking that it would signify Pluto-like objects. They also considered the term plutinos. The Geological Society of America, among other critics of the proposal, sent a quick protest, and a few days later the IAU decided on its epochal definition of dwarf planet that banished Pluto from the register of planets. (See What Is a Planet?) Edited by Brooks Mitchell