Reference no: EM133695305

Question 

Title: Rheumatoid Arthritis

Scenario: A 47-year-old female client presents to the emergency department with complaint of left knee pain. The pain has been present for about six years since she injured it playing tennis, but the pain has increased in severity and frequency over the past ten days. The client recently returned from a hiking trip with her partner and has noticed 7/10 throbbing pain and swelling of the left knee since. The client denies erythema or warmth of the affected joint. She denies recent accident or injury. She does experience a "crunching" sensation when she bends the knee but denies any evidence of instability. She is able to ambulate but is noted to have a slight limp favoring the left leg. She has been managing her pain with OTC Ibuprofen as needed and rest. The knee tends to hurt more if the patient is active, the pain is isolated to the left knee with n other affected joints. Her past medical history is significant for osteoarthritis and migraine headaches. She tells the nurse she "felt silly" coming to the emergency department over this but her mother urged her to be seen since there is a family history of rheumatoid.