How does chemistry apply to your RN position?

[livelovelive]

Hello there. I am currently taking Intro to Chemistry as a pre req to the RN program. We were asked to find out how chemistry is used in the field of registered nursing. I picked three topics. 1. Acids and Bases being the main one. I understand that this is important to know for counter actions with drugs but can anyone give me more details on this topic. Also if you have any other information on how chemistry is used in nursing would be greatly appreciated. Of course converting between the system of measurements is a topic. Unfortunately this topic is excluded.

[Morainey, BSN, RN]

Don't forget the sodium-potassium pump. Also, you could write about hyper, hypo, and isotonic solutions.

I wish my ADN program had chemistry and biology - I think it's so fundamental, and it gets brushed off by the wayside.

[Indy, LPN, LVN]

And on the practical side of things, don't put solidifier in a full container of nicely acidic bile from the suction thingy on the wall. Seriously. Dump a little down the toilet first, or you'll get chemistry in foamy puddles, then when you're done cleaning it you get to use chemistry to get the stains out of your whites.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Want to be the first to know if your patient is losing protein from his damaged kidneys, which you suspect might have happened when he got hypotensive yesterday?

Shake the Foley drainage bag.

What happens?

Why?