Instruction
(Case Scenario):
A 40-year-old man presents with complaints of chest pain, rating the pain as a 9 on a 10-point scale. He states that the pain began suddenly about 30 minutes before arriving to the emergency department. He states that he cannot do anything to relieve the pain and describes it as “crushing.” The patient states he visited his doctor 4 days earlier with a complaint of pain in his left leg. He was given a prescription for Motrin, 800 mg orally every 3 to 4 hours as needed, and returned home to rest. He has been taking the Motrin as prescribed.
(Medical history reveals the following):
-He has a 40 pack/year history of smoking.
-His blood pressure has been “a little elevated,” somewhere in the range of 148/92 mm Hg on his last two visits to his medical practitioner.
-He admits to eating fast food three to five times per week but is proud that his total cholesterol “hovers” around 242 mg/dL.
-His father has angina that began at age 53 years but is alive and well. His mother has no known medical history.
-He exercises regularly and recently noticed a couple of episodes of shortness of breath while jogging but attributed it to “getting old.”
-He was hospitalized 3 years ago for influenza complicated by pneumonia.
-He perceives himself as being healthy, takes no routine medications, and has no known drug allergies.