When observing a patient for symptoms of dehydration, the nurse should observe which assessment

Patients with severe acute malnutrition

Patients with severe acute malnutrition should receive oral rehydration with low-osmolarity ORS instead of the standard rehydration solution for diarrhea, ReSoMal, which does not have sufficient sodium content to replace the losses from cholera. More information is available in WHO’s guidelines for inpatient treatment of severely malnourished infants and children. Breastfed infants should continue to breastfeed. If ORS is not available, provide water, broth, and/or other fluids; avoid fluids high in sugar, such as juice, soft drinks, and sports drinks.

Pregnant women

Pregnant women with cholera are at a higher risk of fetal loss compared with the general population of pregnant women, and dehydration should be treated promptly. Dehydration can be difficult to assess and may be underestimated during the later stages of pregnancy. Closely monitor the patient’s degree of dehydration, response to treatment, and systolic blood pressure.

Assessing patients effectively

Here's how to do the basic four techniques

WHEN YOU PERFORM a physical assessment, you'll use four techniques: inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation. Use them in sequence—unless you're performing an abdominal assessment. Palpation and percussion can alter bowel sounds, so you'd inspect, auscultate, percuss, then palpate an abdomen.

1. Inspection

Inspect each body system using vision, smell, and hearing to assess normal conditions and deviations. Assess for color, size, location, movement, texture, symmetry, odors, and sounds as you assess each body system.

2. Palpation

Palpation requires you to touch the patient with different parts of your hands, using varying degrees of pressure. Because your hands are your tools, keep your fingernails short and your hands warm. Wear gloves when palpating mucous membranes or areas in contact with body fluids. Palpate tender areas last.

Types of palpation

Light palpation

When observing a patient for symptoms of dehydration, the nurse should observe which assessment
Figure
  • ▪ Use this technique to feel for surface abnormalities.
  • ▪ Depress the skin ½ to ¾ inch (about 1 to 2 cm) with your finger pads, using the lightest touch possible.
  • ▪ Assess for texture, tenderness, temperature, moisture, elasticity, pulsations, and masses.

Deep palpation

When observing a patient for symptoms of dehydration, the nurse should observe which assessment
Figure
  • ▪ Use this technique to feel internal organs and masses for size, shape, tenderness, symmetry, and mobility.
  • ▪ Depress the skin 1½ to 2 inches (about 4 to 5 cm) with firm, deep pressure.
  • ▪ Use one hand on top of the other to exert firmer pressure, if needed.

3. Percussion

Percussion involves tapping your fingers or hands quickly and sharply against parts of the patient's body to help you locate organ borders, identify organ shape and position, and determine if an organ is solid or filled with fluid or gas.

Types of percussion

Direct percussion

This technique reveals tenderness; it's commonly used to assess an adult's sinuses.

When observing a patient for symptoms of dehydration, the nurse should observe which assessment
Figure
  • ▪ Using one or two fingers, tap directly on the body part.
  • ▪ Ask the patient to tell you which areas are painful, and watch his face for signs of discomfort.

Indirect percussion

This technique elicits sounds that give clues to the makeup of the underlying tissue. Here's how to do it:

When observing a patient for symptoms of dehydration, the nurse should observe which assessment
Figure
  • ▪ Press the distal part of the middle finger of your nondominant hand firmly on the body part.
  • ▪ Keep the rest of your hands off the body surface.
  • ▪ Flex the wrist of your nondominant hand.
  • ▪ Using the middle finger of your dominant hand, tap quickly and directly over the point where your other middle finger touches the patient's skin.
  • ▪ Listen to the sounds produced.

4. Auscultation

Auscultation involves listening for various lung, heart, and bowel sounds with a stethoscope.

Getting ready

  • ▪ Provide a quiet environment.
  • ▪ Make sure the area to be auscultated is exposed (a gown or bed linens can interfere with sounds.)
  • ▪ Warm the stethoscope head in your hand.
  • ▪ Close your eyes to help focus your attention.

How to auscultate

  • ▪ Use the diaphragm to pick up high-pitched sounds, such as first (S1) and second (S2) heart sounds. Hold the diaphragm firmly against the patient's skin, using enough pressure to leave a slight ring on the skin afterward.
  • ▪ Use the bell to pick up low-pitched sounds, such as third (S3) and fourth (S4) heart sounds. Hold the bell lightly against the patient's skin, just hard enough to form a seal. Holding the bell too firmly causes the skin to act as a diaphragm, obliterating low-pitched sounds.
  • ▪ Listen to and try to identify the characteristics of one sound at a time.

Source: Health Assessment made Incredibly Visual!, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2007.

© 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

What is nursing responsibilities in urinary catheterization?

Nurses are often responsible for the initiation of catherization procedures for patients within the hospital or community setting. This nursing role requires contemporary information on catheter selection and problem solving in the maintenance of urinary catheters.

Which intervention would the nurse plan to help a client prevent a urinary tract infection?

Frequent voiding every 2 to 3 hours to completely empty the bladder is encouraged to prevent bladder distention, lower bacterial urine counts, reduce stasis of the urine, and prevent reinfection.

Can you pee with a catheter in?

They can either be inserted through the tube that carries urine out of the bladder (urethral catheter) or through a small opening made in your lower tummy (suprapubic catheter). The catheter usually remains in the bladder, allowing urine to flow through it and into a drainage bag.

How often should Foley care be done?

Cleaning the Catheter Follow these steps two times a day to keep your catheter clean and free of germs that can cause infection: Wash your hands well with soap and water. Be sure to clean between your fingers and under your nails. Change the warm water in your container if you are using a container and not a sink.