Pathophysiology, A & P, Microbiology, Fluid & Electrolyte Resources

Nursing Students Student Assist

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Here are the Patho guides that I promised to put up awhile ago. Just right click on the link, and "save as." These were tailored to how my instructor taught the class, and what we were expected to know. They are a combo of lecture notes, notes from my book and additional info & graphics to help understand...I focused on these for the tests and got a high A in the class.

Good luck, and hope these help someone!

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.
nrstob08 said:
Dehydration -

why does the ECF increase and the ICF decrease in a hypertonic solution

why does the ECF decrease and the ICF increase in a hypotonic solution

Overhydration-

in a isotonic solution why does the ECF increase and why doesnt anything happen in the ICF?

in a hypotonic solution why do both the ECF and the ICF increase?

in a hypertonic solution why does the ECF increase and the ICF d

Tonicity refers to the solute concentration of a solution outside a cell and its effect on cellular fluid volume. The osmolarity of the solution determines the direction of water flow into or out of the cell. In normal body situations, solute concentration within and outside of the cell is usually nearly the same.

Hypertonic: higher osmolarity than cells (> 300 mmol/L). Higher solute concentration surrounding cells pulls water out of the cells. Greater solute, less water--water moves out of cells. The cell will shrink (crenation).

Hypotonic: lower osmolarity than cells (

Isotonic: same osmolarity as the cells (270 - 300 mmol/L). Equal solute and water--exact same number of particles in both solutions--no net movement of water. Does not change cell volume.

Both hypertonicity and hypotonicity in the extracellular fluids will destroy cells. Need isotonicity for cell homeostasis, for balance.

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Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Featuring ten anatomy systems (skeletal through urinary). Click on any of the 10 pictured anatomy systems for more detail.

https://www.innerbody.com/htm/body.html

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God sends angels to us in time of need. thanks for all the help and the sites recommended. You are a true angel!

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Please help me in the pathophysiology of acute lymphocytic leukemia I need it as soon as possible.. thanks!

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Specializes in pedi, pedi psych,dd, school ,home health.

Thanks to everyone for the great links.. I am sure they will be helpful. I am already studying my patho, class starts this week!

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The information and links you provided is INCREDIBLE.. I start nursing this fall, but will use this useful information for A & P. Thank you!

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So I've been studying fluids and electrolyte chapter and so far it's been good. But when the textbook stated s/s for certain fluid & electrolyte balance, I got a bit stuck because I don't know the reason behind what's going on.

So I have a few questions here:

1) Hypotonic dehydration (electrolyte loss exceeds water loss) might be caused by chronic illness, excessive fluid replacement (hypotonic), renal failure & chronic malnutrition. I don't have problem understanding the last 3 causes, but what kinda chronic illness can cause hypotonic dehydration? My guess would be colon cancer (cause it will have lesser absorption of electrolytes?). I can't think bout other chronic illnesses that lead to electrolyte loss. Can it be liver dz/cancer because of altered in metabolism?

2) Assessment for hypertonic dehydration (water loss exceeds electrolyte loss) are hyperactive deep tendon reflexes and pitting edema. I have no clue how hyperactive dtr r/t hypertonic dehydration. Less water in the body makes reflex more active, but how? Or maybe because of too much electrolytes (compares to water) makes nerve impulse travels faster?

3) "Fluid volume excess causes visual disturbances, skeletal muscle weakness, and paresthesias" again, does this have to do with the nerve impulse distribution to those parts of the body?

4) Can someone explain how hyperglycemia and chf causes hyponatremia? It's stated that both dz cause "Dilution of serum sodium"...How does too much glucose in the body cause removal of sodium? As for chf, does kidneys retain water and sodium to compensate with decrease cardiac output?

As I was searching for answers, I found this cool chart from wikipedia about hyponatremia, so hope this help other students too. -->

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hyponatraemia_Causes.png

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I'm sure you've already had the exam on Fluids & Electrolytes, so this may not be helpful but there are two ways I got through the F&E section:

"Fluids & Electrolytes: Made Incredibly Easy"

"Fluids, Electrolytes & Acid-Base Balance: Reviews and Rationales"

These two books are incredible. My instructors are not very good teachers. They can't explain the concepts simply enough. Those books have pictures and mneumonic devices, etc. They also offer pratice questions.

The Reviews and Rationale Book is part of a series. Each book is a different area of nursing. They're only around $20 each and they review the material, offer questions in the text and on cd. I have 4 of the books from the series so far and I would recommend them!

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Does anybody have any links or any tips on understanding "Blood". When we first started the chapter it seemed easy enough but now I'm a little

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What about blood are you wanting to know?

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Hi, who knows the pathophysiology of Atypical pneumonia?

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S723B said:
What about blood are you wanting to know?

Antigens and Antibodies in relation to blood types. I am getting them all confused.

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