Electrolyte Balance (Nursing)

00:01 So now let's look at what happens when our electrolytes are imbalance.

00:06 First, electrolyte balance usually refers only to our salt balance even though we actually have other electrolytes in the bodies like acids and bases, and even some of our proteins.

00:18 Salts are going to control our fluid movements.

00:22 And they're going to provide minerals for excitability and our excitable cells like our neural cells and our muscle cells.

00:29 They also provide secretory activity and also contribute to membrane permeability.

00:36 Salt enter our body by ingestion, and are also produced by metabolism.

00:42 And they are lost by way of perspiration, feces, urine, or vomit.

00:50 Causes of electrolyte imbalance can include: Hypernatremia, which is going to be an excess amount of sodium in our extracellular fluid.

01:01 Hyponatremia, which is a sodium deficit.

01:06 Hyperkalemia, which is too much potassium in our extracellular fluid and hypokalemia, which is a potassium deficit.

01:16 We also have hypercholeremia, which is going to be an excessive amount of chloride ion found in our extracellular fluid, or hypocholeremia, which is going to be a deficit of the chloride ion in our extracellular fluids.

01:33 Lastly, when we have an imbalance of our calcium, if there's too much, it is referred to as hypercalcemia.

01:40 And if there's too little, it is referred to as hypocalcemia.