Nursing Diagnosis

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one of the cues of the patient in my case study is "delayed capillary refill". What does this indicate?

can I use it as an evidence of a dehydration (deficient fluid volume)??:o:p

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delayed cap refill is suggestive of poor periphiral blood circulation

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

it's a cardiopulmonary problem.

the symptoms of dehydration are listed with the defining characteristics of deficient fluid volume. you won't see delayed capillary refill listed among them.

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it's a cardiopulmonary problem.

the symptoms of dehydration are listed with the defining characteristics of deficient fluid volume. you won't see delayed capillary refill listed among them.

so delayed capillary refill is not the evidence of the dehydration.

thanks alot for your help!:p

i have another question by the way.

i need to answer some questions about a case study of an 82yrs old lady.

she had a fall and fractured right wrist. she was admitted to hospital and an open reduction and internal fixation was performed. she was discharged but the next day, she vomited and felt dizzy when she stands up.

her lab test results are;

na 145 meq/l

k 4.0 meq/l

creatinine 116

urea 9.2

the patient is catheterised, with an initial output of 200mls of offensive odoured, dark coloured urine.

is the nursing diagnosis "deficit fluid volume" an appropriate diagnosis for her in relation to fluid status?

i'm going to write a nursing diagnosis about her dehydration, because she's been vomiting and voiding very concentrated urine.

am i on the right track:confused:

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

the question is is the nursing diagnosis "deficit fluid volume" an appropriate diagnosis for her in relation to fluid status?

the first thing i would do is look up the symptoms of
deficient fluid volume
. do you have a nursing diagnosis reference of some sort or a copy of
taber's cyclopedic medical dictionary
which has the defining characteristics of each nursing diagnosis in it? once you know what the defining characteristics (symptoms) of
deficient fluid volume
are, then you can go back to the information you have been given about this patient and look for them. now, you have to realize that this is a case study so it is designed to make you think. things are not going to be that easy and just handed to you. read about nausea and what happens when it goes untreated. look up those 4 lab tests and what those results mean. what could those lab results possibly mean could be going on with this lady and how could they indicate that there might be a possible fluid loss going on? if you can find evidence in the labwork that there is fluid loss going on, then you can say this patient has deficient fluid volume, right? and that is how you approach answering a question like this. in many ways, you have to be a detective. you are trying to put pieces of a puzzle together and figure out what the picture is telling you. that is pretty much what nursing diagnosis is.

if you do not have the reference books you need to get these answers, use these websites:

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