ashaw720

Yep. Agreed.

I'm currently a LPN in school for my RN, so the care plan is based on a made up patient in a made up scenario. And I am actually not familiar with my hospital's policies regarding electrolyte imbalances since LPNs can't hang the first dose of anything...I don't work on an acute floor per say. But I completely agree with you though, hypokalemia is a priority and should be treated asap. Thanks again for your help!

Yes, it makes sense. I am not saying that the patient's hypokalemia will go left untreated. Since the patient presented with hypokalemia, they should be monitored for any adverse s/s of the disorder while receiving treatment. And since it is not in my nor any floor nurse's scope of practice to prescribe the patient potassium IVPB, I think this has to be a collaborative diagnosis (Risk for Complications of Hypokalemia). Yes, I could maybe use a nursing diagnosis instead. But there are no nursing interventions besides encouraging the patient to eat foods high in potassium to resolve the issue. The best way to resolve hypokalemia is with the aid of a physician who would prescribe an IVPB solution containing potassium and probably some oral potassium pills. I apologize if my question was a little out of context. Thank you for all the help

Hey thanks! Could you write an example for me? I am unsure what you mean by indications. The patient's serum potassium was 2.8 upon admission, no follow up labs have been drawn yet. They are currently asymptomatic (as far as hypokalemia goes)? So like: The nurse will monitor the patient for signs and symptoms of hypokalemia such as paralytic ileus, nausea, vomiting, decreased or absent deep tendon reflexes, and EKG changes and will collaboratively intervene when necessary to restore physiologic stability as indicated by serum potassium levels of less than 3.5 mEq/L ?

Hey all, I am doing a care plan for school and have questions about the "Risk for Complications" collaborative nursing diagnoses. I have the goal written out, "The nurse will monitor the patient for signs and symptoms of hypokalemia and will collaboratively intervene when necessary to restore physiologic stability." My questions are as follows, 1. With the goal, do I need to include a specific target date like when doing actual nursing diagnoses? Or should I add "until the patient's serum potassium level reaches 3.5 mEq/L" to make it measurable in some sort of way? 2. As far as evaluating this goes, how would an example of that look? I can't really say the goal was met, partially met, or not met...can I? I know I could provide supporting information such as the patient has not experienced any symptoms of hypokalemia, the patient's serum potassium level is now at 3.2 mEq/L, etc. but I am just unsure of how the evaluation should look.