Denzel Armstrong Case Study

Welcome to Dr. Jones’s busy general practice clinic where he sees patients of varying ages.  You are one of three RNs in the clinic and your general duties include assessment, patient education, assistance with minor dressing changes, obtaining routine labs (i.e. urine, blood etc.) to name just a few.  You have been a nurse for five years and feel very comfortable in this environment.  On this day, you have a student nurse, Mary, assigned to work along with you.  Mary is a second-year nursing student in a local university where she is working towards her BSN degree.  Let’s help Mary get started with her first patient, Denzel Armstrong!

Denzel Armstrong is an obese 65-year-old African American male who is new to the clinic.  His previous physician retired 1 year ago and he is now seeking care for his hypertension.  He also has complaints of urinary frequency and nocturia three to four times/night for 2 weeks.  He denies dysuria or fever, but admits to urgency and mildly decreased force of stream.  Denzel reports 8 – 12 bathroom visits per day.  He denied previous problems with urination and states that his only medical problem is high blood pressure, for which he takes hydrochlorthiazide 25 mg/day.