what is the best way to review f&e?

[mzjennx, BSN, RN]

hey there guys. i need some help with fluid and electrolyte imbalance. any hints on how to memorize Na, K, Ca, Mg, Cl, P imbalances?

[tma0312]

it sounds dumb, but when I was in school, our instructor made us draw pictures of what a person would look like with each of the imbalances, kind of like those silly illustrations you get in "fluids and electrolytes made easy." somehow drawing them myself made it much easier to remember. And I loved the book I just mentioned- very basic, but once you get the main idea, you can go more in depth.

i still remember what my guy looked like with hypernatremia! haha, he was all cracked out :)

we also made little phrases that covered the major effect of the imbalances. Na-neuro, K- cardiac, etc etc.