Adult Health 2

 A 47 y/o executive is speaking with his secretary about a meeting  scheduled for the next day and suddenly slumps in his chair and is  unable to speak.  The secretary immediately calls 911 and the patient is  transported immediately to the ED.  He is having trouble speaking and  is also having some visual irregularities.  He has recently been told he  has high cholesterol and is also being treated for high blood pressure  and GERD.

Patient history includes:
Works 16 hours a day and last vacation was 3 years ago
Drinks 4-6 cups of coffee daily
Smokes 10-20 cigarettes a day depending on how stressful his day is
Used to exercise, but “now is too busy”
Eats most meals out daily.

The  ED physician suspects that the patient The nurse is teaching the  patient about the following tests and the patient is asking why each one  is ordered.  Using your book, explain to the patient  why each of these  diagnostic tests has been ordered.  Which one should be completed first  and why?

CT scan of the head without contrast

Echocardiogram

MRI of the brain

MRA of the brain