Electrolytes
This electrolyte is the largest cation outside the cells and controls water balance
What is Sodium
This is the normal pH range of arterial blood
What is 7.35-7.45
This is the force that drives the movement of fluids through cells and blood vessel membranes during filtration.
What is hydrostatic pressure?
A severely hyponatremic patient receives 3% saline. What is the type of IV tonicity and what happens to the cells?
What is a Hypertonic fluid and what is shrinking of the cells?
Hypertonic fluid has a higher solute concentration than the intracellular space, so water moves into the vascular space from the cells.
Two-thirds of body fluid is found here.
What is Intracellular fluid
A patient has K⁺ 2.9 mEq/L, muscle weakness, and shallow respirations. Which electrolyte problem is present?
What is Hypokalemia?
Low potassium can weaken skeletal muscles, including the diaphragm, and can also trigger dysrhythmias.
A patient’s pH begins to drop. Which line of defense acts first: buffers, lungs, or kidneys?
What are buffers?
Oxygen moves from the alveoli into the blood where oxygen concentration is lower. What type of movement is this?
What is diffusion?
Diffusion is passive movement of particles from higher concentration to lower concentration. No energy is required
This IV pulls fluid back into the cells
What is a hypotonic fluid?
This area of the body tissues have more water than the sub-q areas of the body.
What are muscles?
A patient’s sodium is 122 mEq/L and the patient is confused and lethargic. What problem is the nurse most concerned about?
What is Hyponatremia?
Low sodium can cause headache, confusion, lethargy, twitching, and severe neurologic complications. Neuro checks and safety are priorities.
A very anxious patient is breathing rapidly and says their fingers feel tingly. The pH is 7.49. Which imbalance is most likely?
What is alkalosis?
A red blood cell is placed in a very dilute solution and begins to swell. What process moved the water?
What is Osmosis?
Water moves across a semipermeable membrane toward the area with more solute. In a hypotonic solution, water enters the cell and it swells.
This is the driving force of IV fluids.
What is Tonicity?
These two organs are responsible for fluid regulation in the body.
What are the kidneys and heart?
The brain cannot store this carbohydrate.
What is glucose?
Your patient received IV opioids. Respirations are 8/min, the patient is drowsy, and the pH is 7.30. This is an acid-base issue.
What is acidosis?
The sodium-potassium pump moves sodium out of the cell and potassium into the cell using ATP. What transport mechanism is this?
What is Active Transport?
Active transport requires energy to move substances against a concentration gradient
What are Isotonic fluids?
The portion of the extracellular fluid located specifically between the cells.
This is the range of the electrolyte potassium.
What is 3.5-5.0 mEq/L
A patient develops acidosis after severe diarrhea. Which second-line defense body system should begin compensating within minutes?
A patient with increased capillary pressure develops edema as fluid is pushed out of blood vessels into the interstitial space. Which movement explains this?
What is filtration?
Filtration moves fluid across a membrane because of pressure differences. Increased hydrostatic pressure pushes fluid out into tissues.
A patient with heart failure receives too much isotonic fluid and now has crackles and edema. What complication should the nurse suspect?
What is fluid volume overload or hypervolemia?
Even isotonic fluids can worsen overload by expanding the extracellular and intravascular spaces. Watch lungs, weight, edema, and oxygenation.
This measures the concentration of all dissolved chemical particles found in the fluid part of the blood, urine, or stool
What is osmolality or osmolarity?