In: Nursing
Your patient is an 82 year old female patient who has late stage Alzheimer’s disease. She has been increasingly confused and agitated, was found to be hypotension and tachycardia and was brought to the emergency department for treatment. The ED began to treat her for dehydration and she is being admitted to the medical unit for further treatment and monitoring. What are your primary concerns for this patient and what assessments and interventions would be associated with your concerns and why?
The primary concern for the patient will be severe electrolyte imbalance,other symptoms of delerium and Hypovolemic shock. The main concern of the health care provider should be to prevent the patient from going in to shock.
In late stage Alzeimer's disease the main cause of dehydration would be forgetting to drink water or take feeds. the hypovolemic status of the patient is causing the Hypotension and tachycardia.
In this patient the assessment data should include,
The interventions should be,
rehydrating the patient is the primary function.