Case Study

Description

Susan is a year-old woman who recently experienced cerebrovascular accident CVA, or stroke, leaving her with right hemiparesis and mild Brocca’s aphasia. Susan has been a successful business owner for a number of years and currently has five employees. Everyone who knows Susan describes her as a “go getter”. Her husband, Paul is and a retired accountant. Although they have been married for many years, each partner is quite is quite independent of the other and has his own life. Both Susan and Paul are devastated at the damage the stroke has done. Rehabilitation has been difficult for Susan as her anger and at times rage, affect her progress. You are her primary nurse and have been working with her during her hospital stay. Now you are trying to prepare her for discharge in 3 days. Susan has been a difficult patient for both you and the staff to work with. She is often too angry to focus on rehabilitation. Her husband Paul doesn’t seem to know what to do either. 1. How do you work through Susan’s anger in caring for her? 2. Susan has certainly suffered physical as well as emotional losses. She is afraid that that she might not be able to continue her business, and to her, it is her life. What might your conversion her entail. 3. Susan says she’d rather have her arm cut off than be stuck with, as she calls “her right arm, her dangling wing”. You hear these words as you enter her room. How do you respond? How can you move Susan forward in her rehabilitation? Could her husband have a role in her care?