Pathophysiology: Muscles, Joints, and Connective Tissues
Course #38951 - $90 -
- Participation Instructions
- Review the course material online or in print.
- Complete the course evaluation.
- Review your Transcript to view and print your Certificate of Completion. Your date of completion will be the date (Pacific Time) the course was electronically submitted for credit, with no exceptions. Partial credit is not available.
With knowledge of the structures and function of the muscles, joints, and connective tissue and the dynamic pathology that intrudes and impedes normal function, nurses can readily provide quality and often life-saving actions. An awareness of why symptoms appear leads to quicker reporting to physicians of changes in the patient's condition. Nurses can also perform immediate interventions based on standing orders and recognition of what needs to be done in order to provide safe quality care. This knowledge changes what could be only technical care to professional care through the use of decision-making skills built upon the knowledge of pathophysiology.
- INTRODUCTION
- MUSCLES, JOINTS, AND CONNECTIVE TISSUES: STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL INTER-RELATIONSHIPS
- THE PROCESS OF SKELETAL MUSCLE CONTRACTION
- PATHOPHYSIOLOGIC INFLUENCES AND EFFECTS
- RELATED INFLUENCES AND EFFECTS
- NURSING ASSESSMENT: ESTABLISHING THE DATA BASE
- SPECIFIC DISORDERS OF CONNECTIVE TISSUE AND MUSCLES
- SPECIFIC DISORDERS OF THE JOINTS
- CASE STUDIES
- CONCLUSION
- Works Cited
This course is designed for nurses in all practice settings.
As health care becomes more complex, it is essential that the theoretical concepts of the basis of illness (pathophysiology) be well understood. The purpose of this course is to reinforce the scientific rationales for the interventions nurses perform and the decisions nurses make as patients move through the ever-changing struggle with their illness.
Upon completion of this course, you should be able to:
- Describe the structure and function of the muscles, joints, and connective tissues.
- Discuss the pathophysiologic influences that may affect the muscles, joints, and connective tissues.
- Outline the role of subjective data in completing a full nursing assessment of the muscles, joints, and connective tissues.
- Describe objective data compiled during a nursing assessment of the muscles, joints, and connective tissues.
- Identify imaging and diagnostic studies used in the identification and classification of muscles, joints, and connective tissues.
- Discuss genetic conditions manifesting in the muscles and connective tissues.
- Evaluate the presentation and differential diagnosis of inflammatory muscle and connective tissue disorders.
- Describe the clinical presentation and treatment of immunologic disorders of the muscles and connective tissues.
- Review the assessment and treatment of traumatic conditions of the muscles and connective tissue.
- Discuss disorders of the joints with multi-factorial origin.
- Analyze the manifestations and therapeutic approaches for degenerative joint diseases.
- Outline the presentation, treatment, and nursing considerations for patients with immunologic joint conditions, such as rheumatoid arthritis.
- Compare and contrast the various joint diseases with an infectious origin.
- Describe cancers of the joints, muscle, and connective tissues.
- Evaluate the appropriate assessment and management of traumatic joint injuries.
Mary Franks, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, is a board-certified Family Nurse Practitioner and NetCE Nurse Planner. She works as a Nurse Division Planner for NetCE and a per diem nurse practitioner in urgent care in Central Illinois. Mary graduated with her Associate’s degree in nursing from Carl Sandburg College, her BSN from OSF Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing in 2013, and her MSN with a focus on nursing education from Chamberlain University in 2017. She received a second master's degree in nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Chamberlain University in 2019. She is an adjunct faculty member for a local university in Central Illinois in the MSN FNP program. Her previous nursing experience includes emergency/trauma nursing, critical care nursing, surgery, pediatrics, and urgent care. As a nurse practitioner, she has practiced as a primary care provider for long-term care facilities and school-based health services. She enjoys caring for minor illnesses and injuries, prevention of disease processes, health, and wellness. In her spare time, she stays busy with her two children and husband, coaching baseball, staying active with her own personal fitness journey, and cooking. She is a member of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and the Illinois Society of Advanced Practice Nursing, for which she is a member of the bylaws committee.
Contributing faculty, Mary Franks, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Margo A. Halm, RN, PhD, NEA-BC, FAAN
The division planner has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
Sarah Campbell
The Director of Development and Academic Affairs has disclosed no relevant financial relationship with any product manufacturer or service provider mentioned.
The purpose of NetCE is to provide challenging curricula to assist healthcare professionals to raise their levels of expertise while fulfilling their continuing education requirements, thereby improving the quality of healthcare.
Our contributing faculty members have taken care to ensure that the information and recommendations are accurate and compatible with the standards generally accepted at the time of publication. The publisher disclaims any liability, loss or damage incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and application of any of the contents. Participants are cautioned about the potential risk of using limited knowledge when integrating new techniques into practice.
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The role of implicit biases on healthcare outcomes has become a concern, as there is some evidence that implicit biases contribute to health disparities, professionals' attitudes toward and interactions with patients, quality of care, diagnoses, and treatment decisions. This may produce differences in help-seeking, diagnoses, and ultimately treatments and interventions. Implicit biases may also unwittingly produce professional behaviors, attitudes, and interactions that reduce patients' trust and comfort with their provider, leading to earlier termination of visits and/or reduced adherence and follow-up. Disadvantaged groups are marginalized in the healthcare system and vulnerable on multiple levels; health professionals' implicit biases can further exacerbate these existing disadvantages.
Interventions or strategies designed to reduce implicit bias may be categorized as change-based or control-based. Change-based interventions focus on reducing or changing cognitive associations underlying implicit biases. These interventions might include challenging stereotypes. Conversely, control-based interventions involve reducing the effects of the implicit bias on the individual's behaviors. These strategies include increasing awareness of biased thoughts and responses. The two types of interventions are not mutually exclusive and may be used synergistically.