ilearntoo

Gotcha! Yes her I&O's are good. She did not eat for a week prior to admin, but that was two weeks ago. She's been eating well during my shifts. No dehydration. No IV. Is it possible that lab values take long to be stable again? & I know she's on one blood thinner med (possible contribution?) all other meds are antibiotics.

Thanks for all the comments guys. Esme12, I actually ended up thinking about her dx. Dx pelvic abscess secondary to diverticulitis. Perhaps she was GI bleeding before being dx with abscess. That's the only thought that made sense to me due to her diverticulitis. Either that, or she is undiagnosed anemic. I looked at the labs and although hgb, hct are still low they actually increased a bit throughout my shifts. She also has high glucose levels and she is not diabetic and no hx of diabetes. I'm looking into meds and the fact that she didn't eat for a week before ending up at the E.R. due to her abdominal pain. (hence diverticulitis, me thinking GI bleeding, x-ray to identify she had an abscess) Anyhow, I spoke with my prof. and she told me simply to include my thoughts and what could possibly be the cause backed up with evidence and I should be good for my careplan. Thanks for the help guys! :)

Rbc 3.43, Hgb 10, Hct 32. Pt. is elderly lady. She has a JP drainage tube in place. No blood being drained just green fluids. This may be a very dumb question, but would drainage of fluids (of any kind) esp. high volumes cause oxygen levels to drop leading to low hgb, etc? Pt. is not dehydrated, but she was upon admin.

I can't seem to link my pt.'s labs together with her condition. Pt. dx with pelvic abscess. e.coli present in abscess. WBC elevated: I know because of the infection WBC increased to fight off the infection. As for RBC, Hgb, HcT low: pt. not dx anemia, sats are good at 97 consecutively. No signs of hemorrhage, no mentions of internal bleeding by anyone or on chart. I'm lost. I don't know why she has low labs. I understand it means oxygen is not being carried to places or there are not enough blood cells to carry them, but pt. has no s/s of anything oxygen related wrong. She's on no oxygen (nasal cannula, etc.) either. I'm a nursing student working on my careplan. :s Thanks in advance!

Thank you! You're right lol Although my pt. is in long term facility and most likely will never be discharged so I had to switch it up a bit. I'm having trouble with chronic pain dx now couldn't find a real dx with "chronic pain" so I used "readiness for enhanced comfort" since pt. has lower back pain 8/10 scale for 8 years claims nothing works for her but wants to learn ways to distract herself. not sure if this is a good dx to choose though.

I'm focusing my careplan on depression and chronic pain. I need two dx. I'm having trouble creating a goal for depression though. I'm not looking to cure depression I just want my pt. to be able to cope with her depressive mood. My pt. loves to read and she says it's her only way of distracting herself from depression and her chronic pain. Interventions for coping w/ depression I was thinking: use reminescene therapy, provide different forms of expressing such as music, pictures, writing; position client by window. My pt. refuses to go out of her room she doesn't like socializing with anyone else in the long term facility. & for her chronic pain I also have to come up with a goal of her coping with it. I have my interventions for chronic pain as well like guided imagery, mediation, etc. Just having a dificult time with the goals because I know they have to be very specific. Any help? By the way, I'm new here! hi everyone.