Basic Nursing: Foundations of Skills & Concepts Chapter 23

1. Basic Nursing: Foundations of Skills & Concepts Chapter 23 FLUID, ELECTROLYTE, & ACID-BASE BALANCE

2. Homeostasis • The maintenance of the body’s internal environment within a narrow range of normal values. • It is an ongoing process, with changes constantly occurring in the body. • Maintaining homeostasis is essential to life.

3. Chemical Organization • Basic chemical and physical principles, shown below, are necessary to understand the higher levels of organization. • Elements. • Atoms. • Molecules and Compounds. • Ions.

4. Water • Water constitutes approximately 60% of the total body weight of an adult. • It is involved in many of the physical and physiological process of the body. • Fluctuations in the amount of water in the body can have harmful and even fatal consequences.

5. Gases • Two important gases in the body are oxygen and carbon dioxide.

6. Acids, Bases, Salts, and pH • Acids, bases, salts, and Ph are important for life. • When blood pH falls below 7.35, acidosis occurs. • When blood pH increases about 7.45, alkalosis occurs.

7. Buffers • Substances that attempt to maintain pH range or H+ ion concentration, in the presence of added acids or bases.

8. Buffer Systems • Bicarbonate buffer system (works to regulate pH in both intracellular and extracellular fluids). • Phosphate buffer system (works to regulate the pH of intracellular fluid and fluid in kidney tubules). • Protein buffer system (works to regulate pH inside cells, especially red blood cells).

9. Substance Movement • Substances must be able to both enter and leave cells. • The ability of a membrane to permit substances to pass through it is called permeability. • Substances move by passive or active transport.

10. Types of Passive Transport • Diffusion. • Osmosis. • Filtration.

11. Diffusion • The tendency of molecules to move from a region of higher molecular concentration to a region of lower molecular concentration until an equilibrium is reached.

12. Osmosis • The diffusion of water through a semi-permeable membrane from a region of higher water concentration to a region of lower water concentration.

13. Filtration • Fluids and the substances dissolved in them are forced through cell membranes by hydrostatic pressure. • Hydrostatic pressure is the pressure that the fluid exerts against the membrane.

14. Active Transport • Accomplished by means of carrier molecules, which can latch onto specific molecules and transport them in or out of the cell. • Examples of important ions transported b this process are calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium.

15. Fluid & Electrolyte Balance • Human life is suspended in a saline solution having a salt concentration of 0.9%. • For life to continue and cells to properly function, body fluids must remain fairly constant with regard to amount of water and specific electrolytes of which they are composed.

16. Body Fluids • Intracellular fluid (All of the water and ions inside the cells). • Extracellular fluid (fluid outside the cells).

17. Edema • When the amount of interstitial fluid (fluid in tissue spaces around each cell) returned to the circulatory system lessens and the fluid accumulates in the tissue spaces, the tissues become swollen. This condition is called edema.

18. Dehydration • When more water is lost from the body than is replaced. • Caused by water deprivation, excessive urine production, profuse sweating, diarrhea, and extended periods of vomiting.

19. Sources of Fluid Loss • Skin (loss of 300 to 400ml. per day by diffusion and perspiration). • Lungs (300 to 400ml. per day with expired air, saturated with water vapor). • Gastrointestinal Tract (200ml. per day in feces). • Kidneys (1,200 to 1,500ml. per day).

20. Disturbances in Electrolyte Balance • Sodium. • Potassium. • Calcium. • Magnesium. • Phosphate. • Chloride. Around these primary areas:

21. Sodium • Hyponatremia (subnormal serum sodium value). • Hypernatremia (above normal serum sodium value).

22. Potassium • Hypokalemia (subnormal serum potassium value). • Hyperkalemia (above normal serum potassium value).

23. Calcium • Hypocalcemia (subnormal serum calcium value). • Hypercalcemia (above normal serum calcium value).

24. Magnesium • Hypomagnesemia (subnormal serum magnesium value). • Hypermagnesemia (above normal serum magnesium value).

25. Phosphate • Hypophosphatemia (subnormal serum phosphate value). • Hyperphosphatemia (above normal serum phosphate value).

26. Chloride • Hypochloremia (subnormal serum chloride value). • Hyperchloremia (above normal serum chloride value).

27. Acid-Base Balance The body has three main control systems that regulate acid-base balance to counter acidosis or alkalosis: • Buffer systems. • Respiratory Regulation of Acid-Base Balance. • Renal Control of Hydrogen Ion Concentration.

28. Diagnostic and Laboratory Data • The biochemical indicators of acid-base balance are assessed by measuring the arterial blood gases (ABGs).

29. Acid-Base Imbalances

30. Assessment and Fluid Balance • Health History. • Diagnostic and Laboratory Data. • Physical Examination • Daily Weight, Vital Signs, Intake and Output, Thirst, Skin, Buccal (Oral) Cavity, Eyes, Jugular and Hand Veins, Neuromuscular System.

31. Diagnostic and Laboratory Data • Hemoglobin and Hematocrit Indices. • Urine pH. • Serum Albumin. • Osmolality (a measurement of the total concentration of dissolved particles per kilogram of water). • Serum Osmolality. • Urine Osmolality.

32. Fluid volume excess. Fluid volume deficit. Fluid volume deficit, risk for. Gas exchange, impaired. Cardiac output, decreased. Knowledge deficit. Breathing pattern, ineffective. Anxiety. Thought processes, altered. Injury, risk for. Oral mucous membrane, altered. Fluid Balance & Nursing Diagnosis Diagnoses relevant to fluid imbalances may include:

33. Fluid Balance & Implementation • Monitoring daily weight. • Measuring vital signs. • Measuring intake and output. • Providing oral hygiene. • Initiating oral fluid therapy. • Maintaining tube feeding. • Monitoring intravenous therapy. Common interventions include:

34. IV Therapy • Intravenous therapy is the administration of fluids, electrolytes, nutrients, or medications by the venous route. • Clients receiving IV therapy require constant monitoring for complications.