1. Will the nurse's mistake increase or decrease the "saltiness" of the interstitial fluid?
2. Given your knowledge of osmosis, will this cause the cells in the body to increase or decrease in size? Explain your answer.
3. Why does Richard have pitting edema and respiratory rales?
4. How do the chronic renal failure and heart attack change the normal physiological responses for fluid and electrolyte balance?
5. How does the increase in salt load affect Richard’s blood-aldosterone level? In your answer, explain the function of the hormone aldosterone.
6. Can you think of any other normal mechanisms that the body has to control fluid and electrolyte balance? How might they react in this situation?
7. What symptoms might result from hypernatremia?
8. How is this patient's interstitial edema in the lungs affected by his already-weakened heart?
9. What, other than the pulmonary edema, is causing the patient’s symptoms of difficulty breathing? Be sure to include neurological and muscular reactions to hypernatremia, taking into account your answer to #7 above.
10. Richard is npo. How should his fluid-electrolyte imbalance be addressed?
THIS IS WHAT I HAVE ALREADY:
1.What will the nurse's mistake do to the "saltiness" (increase or decrease it and why) of the interstitial fluid
The intravenous fluid given to this patient was too concentrated with sodium and chloride. Because these ions diffuse freely between the plasma and the interstitial fluid, increases in plasma sodium and chloride concentrations will cause increases in interstitial fluid sodium and chloride concentrations.
2. Given your knowledge of osmosis, will this cause the cells in the body to increase or decrease in size? Explain your answer.
Interstitial fluid that is hypertonic to intracellular fluid will cause water to shift by osmosis from the cells to the interstitial fluid. Hence, the cells will osmotically shrink. This can be particularly detrimental to the intracellular architecture, causing deformation of the vital organelles required for cell function
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