Dehydration: Case Study (Nursing)

00:01 Okay, so let's apply what we just learned in the previous several slides to a real world case.

00:08 What's going to happen when you are actually presented with a sick child when you are a nurse? We are going to run through a very short case study.

00:18 And I really want you to think about this case in terms of that Clinical Judgment Measurement Model that we talked about at the beginning of the slides, because that's really going to help you be successful in answering those NCLEX questions.

00:33 So, you have a six-month-old infant who has been running a low grade fever for 24 hours and is brought to the emergency pediatric department.

00:41 The parents report that the child vomited twice during the night.

00:45 So, I want you to pause the video here and maybe take out a piece of paper and write down what you think.

00:53 We're going to think about this in terms of the first couple of steps of that Clinical Judgment Measurement Model.

00:59 And we're really trying to recognize and analyze some of those cues.

01:10 So, if this infant is dehydrated, what cues would you expect to recognize? How would you analyze those cues? And would that analysis support a diagnosis of dehydration? Now that you've had some time to think about this case, and analyze and recognize those cues, let's take this case step by step.

01:32 So, you have a six-month-old infant who has been running a low grade fever.

01:36 We know that fever is one of the major causes of dehydration in pediatric patients.

01:43 We also know that patients that are less than a year old are particularly at risk for dehydration.

01:50 So, this case is telling you already that your six month old infant has had a low grade fever.

01:57 So, it is really at high risk for dehydration.

02:00 So, that fever has been going on for 24 hours, and that child has vomited twice.

02:07 So, here is yet another reason for this patient to be dehydrated.

02:13 Additionally, you would want to assess the patient and analyze some of that data and those cues and see does this infant have a sunken funtanel? Do they have tacky mucous membranes? Maybe you can check their skin turgor.

02:28 You can ask the parents have they had any wet diapers over the last several hours? And these will give you additional information that will help you really decide if and how much your patient is dehydrated.

02:43 And this is a great way for you to be able to think through real world cases and be able to determine if that patient is at risk for dehydration.