When
the temperature heats up or during flu season, some patients are more at risk
for dehydration. Who’s at
risk? To answer this correctly,
you need to understand how the body maintains fluid balance.
Question
Who
has more water in their body – men or women; the elderly or babies?
To
answer this question, you have to understand this…
Men
versus women - Muscle has more water than fat and since males have more muscle
than females, men have more water in their bodies.
Elderly versus babies - the
younger you are, the more water you have.
Thus, it’s your elderly
female patient who is the most at risk for dehydration.
How
do you know if your patient is dehydrated?
1.
Check a weight – This is a great, non-invasive way to determine if a patient is
overloaded or dehydrated. Once their baseline weight is established, it’s the
trending up or the trending down that can indicate a shift in fluid status.
Check a weight daily.
2.
Physical assessment – Look at your patient.
Are their mucous membranes dry and cracked? Do they look dry? Although
we’ve all been taught to check skin turgor, this might not be a good idea for
your elderly patient with frail skin.
3.
Check serum osmolality - This tells you how “thick” the blood is. Normal is
275 – 295mOsm/l. The higher the number, the dryer the patient, indicating the
need for fluids.
If you suspect your patient
is dehydrated, make sure the appropriate tests are ordered and that the patient
has the proper fluids on board.
Remember, nurses are the key
to preventing, early detection and management of dehydration. Don’t wait until
your patient’s pressure drops to nothing to respond!
Thanks so much for reading.
Take care and stay connected.
Are there any topics you’d
like me to write about? If so, would love for you to enter in the comment
section.
Remember, I’m cheering for
your success!!
Renee
For more great tips, make sure you "like" me on Facebook,"follow" me on Twitter and YouTube and subscribe to my blog. Also, check out my new book on nurse-to-nurse bullying and my new eBook titled, Survive and Thrive: A guide helping new nurses succeed!
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