Halcyonn

Why is this even a question? You should tell the truth. Did your nursing program not cover ethics?

This would be a good place to start: VA Board of Nursing

Eh, I don't think you made a poor choice. Everything you learned in school will help you pass that NCLEX, not a preceptorship. All that knowledge won't be lost if you decide to choose a specialty. In class, we have instructors warn us about "picking up bad habits" in the clinical setting. They always tell us, when it comes to the NCLEX, go with what you were taught in school, not what you see on the floor. Were it me, I would pick a specialty that interests me!

Could you possibly use "Knowledge Deficit" as your diagnosis? I am unfamiliar with the time-out protocol, but I gather from your post that your problem relates to some kind of knowledge deficit regarding its implementation. Think it could work?

Awesome analogy - this totally makes sense to me!

I would worry about fluid loss.

I found this book helpful when I started my program. Davis's Test Success

I use this site frequently to practice. Dosage Help

Hey, it's not a total loss. I learned quite a bit from the OP's thread! :)

That was originally my intention. Boy did I muck that up...

Wow, my bad everyone. I realize that DA is not an "official" abbreviation and I would/will never use it to document. I'm sorry Since the original poster hasn't returned yet... Would an aortic aneurysm be audible in the abdomen?

Ha! Yes, I meant descending aorta. I was purposefully vague in order to let the original poster attempt to figure it out. I didn't want to spoil the thread.

Wait, what were you thinking? I thought DA. I mean, sometimes after I eat I can watch my abdomen pulsate. I always assumed it was my DA. Why are we rushing to ct? Should I be worried?

Yea, I totally read that question as 'day' instead of 'week'. Whoops!

mzrainydayz, what book did you use to review? The Hurst review that was posted at the top?

Alright, I understand the osmosis portion of that. My original reply should have said (hypervolemia) instead of (hypovolemia). Anyway, my take away from that is water will move to dilute the solute. In this case, sodium. When the Na content inside the cell is > than the Na content outside the cell the water moves into the cell. An intake of too much fluid causes the dilution of the blood plasma. Yes? Treatment for this condition would be diuretics? Still kinda hung up on the concept of edema related hypernatremia. I think I need to review my NANDA book. Perhaps looking at interventions will help it make sense.

I'll preface my response by saying I'm still studying for my F/E exam. I was thinking the dairy/calcium restriction option. Question says the patient is "at risk", so diet modification may help prevent the "at risk" from turning into the real deal. Increasing fluids is something I would think to do for someone who already has hypercalcemia, but not for an "at risk" person. For this one I would go with A) weight gain. My rationale is that Lasix is a diuretic. If the person is gaining weight, that could indicate that the medicine is no longer effective, or the condition it was prescribed to treat has gotten worse. For this one, I honestly have no idea. But, I probably would have picked the bed positioning just because giving meds would require an order and that seems complicated, lol. I'm interested to see what others think!

Esme, thank you for your very informative post. I am stuck on one thing regarding hypo/hypernatremia. You mentioned that a patient with edema may experience hypernatremia, but you also mentioned that a patient who consumes large amounts of fluids may experience hyponatremia. In my mind, excess fluid is excess fluid, so let me attempt to understand this. Bear with me... When you say "sodium always follow water", is that to say your patient with edema may experience hypernatremia because they have excess fluid, therefor their body retains more sodium (follows/stays with the water), which leads to an elevated lab value? Conversely, if a patient consumes excess amounts of fluid they may experience hyponatremia because they have essentially diluted themselves (eg. hypovolemia)? I suppose I'm getting caught up in the fact that in both cases the patient has extra fluid on board, but ends up with two different lab values. Does this make sense?

Wow, thanks for posting that resource! Just skimmed through it, but from what I saw I really like the way it's laid out. S/S alongside an explanation or a "why" seems to help my information retention. Very effective - good stuff!

In my experience, what is covered in lecture is typically a general overview for what will be on the test. But, you can use that information to devise a study plan. You might find it helpful to review learning objectives/outcomes that are in the related chapters of your text. If you understand those concepts, that is a good starting point. Whatever you are studying make sure you know what is "normal" and what is "abnormal" and then know WHY! Definitely take advantage of any online resources attached to your texts. And, practice NCLEX questions related to the content you're studying. Try to break up the material so you don't get overwhelmed. Set small goals (eg. today I will review chapter 12 and do 25 practice questions) so you don't get overwhelmed. Good luck to you!

I have a fluid/electrolytes test coming up and I was hoping that some of you out there might have some helpful materials to augment my, somewhat dry, text. I feel pretty confident with values, but if anyone would like to share a resource they found helpful for hypo/hyper S/S that would be awesome!

I use the formula method, so I can't comment on your analysis of the problem, but this is how I solved it... The order is for 16mu/min. You are given 10 units in 500mL. First thing I did was convert units to mu: 10,000mu/500mL Then, I figured how many mu/mL: 10000 / 500 = 20mu/mL Then, I figured how many mu would infuse/hour: 16mu * 60min = 960mu/hour So, to figure out how many mL/hour I divided the mu/hour by the mu/mL: 960mu / 20mL = 48mL/hour Hopefully you find this helpful! :)

ADN - 32 - 3.9

That's an impressive accomplishment, good for you - congratulations!

When you stop worrying about what other people say/think.