Case study 

Question Answered step-by-step Case study B.C is a 16-year-old female who enters the emergency department (ED) with her mother. B.C. is pale and looks anxious, with tears in her eyes. Her mother is angry and yells at the triage nurse, stating that her daughter needs to see a doctor immediately. As the triage nurse begins to assess B.C., the mother becomes more agitated and paces the floor. B.C. begins to cry and is unable to answer the triage nurse’s questions. The Charge Nurse escorts the mother to the visitor lounge and tries to console her while the triage nurse calms B.C. and begins the interview. B.C. shared that this is her third visit to the ED in six months. Each time her mother has brought her because B.C. will not eat as much as her mother wants her to and they argue, leading to today’s visit to the ED. B.C. says “I am on the track team, and my grades are good. I just don’t need to eat a lot and I need to keep my weight down to do well in track.” Each previous ED visit resulted in discharge from the ED and a referral to an eating disorders clinic. B.C. then “talked her mother out of going” and bargained that she would “be better.”Today, B.C. fainted in school during physical education class and the school nurse expressed her concerns to B. C’s mother. The school nurse noted that B.C. is extremely underweight, appears dehydrated, and that B. C’s does not appear to realize the dangers of not eating. B. C’s mother left work to pick her and drove immediately to the ED. B.C.’s initial assessment finds her vital signs: 97.8 f- 66-11-88/58. She is 5 feet 3 inches and weights 97lbs 44kg. She is pale and has few tears, her mucous membranes are pale and dry. Her skin is cool, and the nurse notes fine lanugo on her shoulders and upper arms. B.C. states she has not had her period in four months which “is fine with me since I run track,” and she is chronically constipated. B.C. states she fainted because “I skipped lunch to work on a project.”B.C. is to be admitted to the adolescent unit.  Priority Assessment   Priority Laboratory Tests/Diagnostics   Priority Interventions   Priority Potential & Actual Complications   Priority Nursing Implications   Priority Medications   Priority Education/Discharge Issues     Health Science Science Nursing NURSING 309 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)