NCLEX- I need help to understand IV fluids

[NAM123]

Hey guys,

I am going to be taking my NCLEX soon. I have tried everything and I still don't understand the difference between IV Fluid.

1) what are the different types of fluids for isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic

2) for burn patient which fluid would they get, or even for pt who are dehydrated?

I do understand that Isotonic is what we have inside our body, its the same in and outside of the cell. Hypertonic- when the fluid is forced out of the cell, & hypotonic- to help fluid go inside the cell.

Help please..I need a easy way to remember this and truly understand it. thank you :)

[DBK99]

Isotonic: normal saline, lactated ringers, D5W, D51/4NS. Isotonic solutions go into the vascular space and stay there, so it brings BP up.

If a person is dehydrated, in shock, fluid vol deficit, LR is best because is has a lot of electrolytes. I believe LR is the choice for burn pts for fluid resuscitation

Hypotonic: 1/2NS, 0.33%NS, D2.5W

Hypotonic solutions initially go into the vascular space, and then they move into the cells. They dont stay in the vascular space

Hypertonic: D10W, 3%NS, 5%NS, D5LR, D5NS, D51/2NS, TPN, albumin

Hypertonics bring fluid out of the cells to put in the vascular space. They expand volume. Albumin would be used in a burn pt who is 3rd spacing to bring the fluid back to the vascular space.

[NAM123]

Thanks...wow is there a way to rmr what fluid does with what (hyper, hypo, iso)?

[nursesunrise]

Just remember the isotonic ones and you can figure it out. Isotonic = "normal" saline, lactated ringers and D5 1/4 NS. Water follows ions so "hyper"tonic solutions have "higher" amts and "hypo"tonic have lower. If normal saline is 1%, 0.5NS is less, so it is "hypo"tonic. Anything less than 1% saline is "hypotonic". Anything containing more than 1% is "hyper", so 3%NS has more salt, its hyper. Water follows the salt, so more salt pulls the fluid out of the cell.

Same thing for D5W. D5W is the baseline, its "normal", so D2.5W is "lower" so its hypotonic. If D has more than 5 or has anything "more" than "W"ater, it is hypertonic, such as D10W. I don't know if I'm explaining it clearly, but once I started to think about it that way, I never had problems with understanding hyper/hypotonic and fluid volumes again.

[tiss]

YOU-TUBE is very helpfully too because hearing someone explaining it makes a big difference

[NAM123]

Just remember the isotonic ones and you can figure it out. Isotonic = "normal" saline, lactated ringers and D5 1/4 NS. Water follows ions so "hyper"tonic solutions have "higher" amts and "hypo"tonic have lower. If normal saline is 1%, 0.5NS is less, so it is "hypo"tonic. Anything less than 1% saline is "hypotonic". Anything containing more than 1% is "hyper", so 3%NS has more salt, its hyper. Water follows the salt, so more salt pulls the fluid out of the cell.

Same thing for D5W. D5W is the baseline, its "normal", so D2.5W is "lower" so its hypotonic. If D has more than 5 or has anything "more" than "W"ater, it is hypertonic, such as D10W. I don't know if I'm explaining it clearly, but once I started to think about it that way, I never had problems with understanding hyper/hypotonic and fluid volumes again.

very helpful! thank you :)