kieraloo

This was a great answer, exactly what I was asking. I didn't need to provide a medical history in order to get this answer and i appreciate it. All I asked was why would you give K+ bag in a state of acidosis with a K+ of 5.2. Thank you for answering exactly what I was asking.

I need an answer.... I am a new nurse on a MSP unit. But I am noooooo dummy. A family member of mine was admitted to the ICC today where I work with acidosis. I left my shift early and sat in the ER with her till she could go to her room. As I sat there I noticed a 250ml bag of 20meq Potassium running into her. So I asked the nurse what that was for....no real answer...I asked what her Potassium was....was later told 5.2 (I know most norms are 3.5-5.5/5.1/5.0 or a variation, 5.2 is considered low at this hospital). It didnt really register till I got upstairs with her and started to see her vitals deteriorate more and more, I actually had time to formulate. Blood pressure was prehtn upon admission to ER and within a few hours hypotn. No previous cardiac history, now has pronounced JVD, third spacing, edema..... I kept asking.....why this bag was hung? Does this have an effect on the intracellular exchange that occurs? If her K+ is 5.2 why is she getting Potassium? No one knew why......there was no order for it in the MAR or MAR summary....leads me to believe this is a medication error and hung on the wrong individual because people started to cover their asses as soon as I mentioned this. The question I pose is this..... What would be the reasoning for infusing a bag of 250ml 20 meq potassium for this individual? Is this related to the intent to correct the :mad:acidosis, the high CO2 and retention? Will this correct it? No one could answer this for me!!!! And I was acting proxy!!!! And it seemed to be of no concern to anyone that this person received this potassium, had no MAR/order history documented, and appeared to be slowly entering into a state of shock. I really need an answer! I plan on pursuing this issue later, but right now I would like to know what exactly why potassium is needed in a state of acidosis (undefined but retaining CO2) for an individual that has a K+ lvl of 5.2? I need a rationale for the am!!!!!!

I used my Human resources director as point of contact. By law, they have to tell prospective employers date of hire, what unit/RN1/11/111 etc. and I believe that is it. I did not use my supervisor(s)/manager for fear of reprisal.

I just recently failed my exam in February. I had studied the Sylvesrtri (spelling?) book. I opted not to do kaplan because i heard it was test taking strategy and not so much content review. i feel like i needed content review (plus, i am poor, like most nursing students and couldn't afford kaplan...i still do not regret not taking it, i wish i could take the hurst review...knew nothing of this one) I was having no problem with the review content, the medication questions the online practice questions so i felt pretty confident that I was going to pass....wrong.....i did the full amount of test questions and when i received my results i was borderline everything. the majority of my exam was psych (not my forte' and the exam capitalized upon that) So i am taking it again in April....i can't imagine how much harder the damn test can get....cause i saw drug names i had no idea existed (let alone their s/e or use), disease processes i had never heard of....etc. the test info. was pretty foreign to me. so this time i decided to buy the kaplan book online. we will see how it goes.