Multisystem: Blood Pressure and Possible Blood Cultures Essay

Submitted By tuffnbuff024
Words: 783
Pages: 4

Multisystem Failure

Key assessments that would help assess the patient’s homeostasis, oxygenation, and level of pain. Physical observations that could be made quickly at the bedside would be obtain blood pressure, pulse, oxygen saturation, temperature and obtain a current blood glucose level. The registered nurse (RN) should complete a quick assessment at the bedside and check for bleeding and sweating. Technological and laboratory assessments that I would want to help assess the patient’s condition include EKG for possible arrhythmias, blood panel stat with CBC with differential, BMP and possible blood cultures depending on assessment results from vital signs. Respiratory should be involved in the case and obtain a set of arterial blood gasses at the bedside. Due to the metformin I would assess the BUN and creatinine for possible kidney function decline. Technological tools such as the EKG listed above would be utilized to get a view of the heart and look for dysrhythmias that may have resulted from the changes made to her medications. I would obtain the blood workup to look at kidney function related to the metromin as decreased kidney function could cause the confusion and in advanced stages cause loss of consciousness. I would also want to look for abnormal results that may lead to confusion related to the hydrochlorothiazide such as decreased potassium level that could lead to heart issues and monitor electrolytes for changes related to the hydrochlorothiazide. The benefits of monitoring the heart via continuous EKG would include noting abnormal rate and rhythm spells and would show any dysrhythmias that are occurring. The benefits of the blood workup are numerous such as catching possible electrolyte imbalance, infection, anemia, kidney failure, overdoes and more. The tools used can give us a glimpse as to why the patient has became unresponsive and possibly allow us to adjust medications or add medications that will improve the patient’s outcome. I prioritized data collection in this scenario as I have learned from nursing school and working in the field for multiple years. I would first obtain my vital signs because they give a broad view of what is happening and may lead you quickly to understand that the patient has became unresponsive due to hypotension and the doctor could then order a fluid bolous or a medications to raise the bloodpressure. The vital signs would come first for me because they are going to be needed for treatment. I would include a blood glucose check in with the vitals due to the fact that the patient is on metformin means they have had problems with diabetes and could be hypo or hyperglycemic. The above are also quickly obtained at the bedside so should be completed first. I would then continue to have the EKG and blood workup completed as they would take longer to complete and results would take longer to obtain. In the geriatric patient I would assess pain in an alert patient by explaining the 0-10 scale with 0 being no pain and 10 being the worst