Published Feb 20, 2010
cupcakesncream16
5 Posts
My fellow nursing student and I are working on extra credit homework and we are having a really hard time figuring this out. Below is the case study with the questions
**The main things we need to know are whether this person has hypernatremia or hyponatremia---and how do we know if we have SIADH?
Thank you SO much
Smith is a 73 year old white female with lung cancer, and has been receiving chemotherapy on an outpatient basis. She completed her third treatment 5 days ago and has been experiencing nausea and vomiting for 2 days even though she has been given Zofran orally as directed. Smith's daughter brings her to the hospital where she is admitted to the medical unit. The admitting nurse performs a throughout assessment.
Subjective
Objective
Questions
Nnenna.
2 Posts
Good news the rest of the answers
Need the rest of the answers
NICUmiiki, DNP, NP
1,775 Posts
Nurses on this site usually will not just give you the answer (many are instructors). You MUST post your thought process first and they wil guide you from there.
TheDudeWithTheBigDog, ADN, RN
678 Posts
Don't overlook important details in those first 2 sentences. There's a couple things in there that cause fluid loss, you figured that out (but do her diagnoses or treatments affect any of that in any way?). So, in losing fluid in these ways, is she more likely to retain or lose sodium?
Hint: You already know there's a risk of SIADH, and you need to figure out why. But first, I'd youtube a 5 minute refresher on how ADH works and how your body knows to release it.
Second hint: Your end goal is passing a license exam. Every license and certification exam in every field has one major thing in common: Every detail in a question potentially affects the right answer. Why did they make sure to specify that she was treated for lung cancer, or that she's taking that specific medicine? Do one of them have any effect on her electrolytes or fluids?