Med-Surg - Cardiovascular System, part 21: Shock

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In this article, we discuss the different types of shock, along with signs and symptoms, labs, treatment, and nursing care.

The Med-Surg Nursing video series follows along with our Medical-Surgical Nursing Flashcards, which are intended to help RN and PN nursing students study for nursing school exams, including the ATI, HESI, and NCLEX.

Shock is a life-threatening circulatory failure. During shock, insufficient blood flow leads to lack of perfusion to the body's organs—organs are not getting the oxygen and nutrients that they need.

Types of shock

Types of shock include hypovolemic, cardiogenic, obstructive, and distributive shock. Distributive shock types include septic, neurogenic, and anaphylactic shock.

Hypovolemic shock

Hypovolemic shock can be caused by blood loss associated with a trauma or surgery. Hypovolemic shock can also be caused by GI losses (e.g., excess vomiting or diarrhea). It can also be caused by excess fluid loss, e.g., via diuresis.

Cardiogenic shock

Cardiogenic shock is heart pump failure that can be caused by an acute myocardial infarction, from heart failure, from a valve or structural problem in the heart, and dysrhythmias.

Obstructive shock

Obstructive shock if blockage of the great vessels or the heart itself. Examples of causes of obstructive shock include a pulmonary embolism, a tension pneumothorax, and cardiac tamponade.

Distributive shock

Distributed shock leads to extreme systemic vasodilation, which causes the patient's blood pressure to plummet.

There are three types of distributive shock: septic, neurogenic, and anaphylactic.

Septic shock

Septic shock is a dysregulated response to an infection wherein endotoxins end up in the bloodstream.

Neurogenic shock

Neurogenic shock is loss of sympathetic tone and dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system due to a brain or spinal cord injury.

Anaphylactic shock

Anaphylactic shock is a severe allergic reaction. The patient has a reaction based on exposure to an allergen, which can lead to closure of the airway and systemic vasodilation.

Signs and symptoms of shock

Signs and symptoms of shock include hypotension, tachycardia, tachypnea, weak pulses, and a decrease in urine output to under 30 mL per hour.

If the patient has anaphylactic shock, they may also have wheezing, rash, and angioedema.

Labs and diagnostics for shock

Lab values common during shock include an increase in serum lactate, and abnormal ABGs.

If the patient has cardiogenic shock, then we will also see an increase in cardiac enzymes.

If the patient has hypovolemic shock, we will see a decrease in hemoglobin and hematocrit.

If the patient has septic shock, then we will have positive blood cultures because of the presence of endotoxins in the bloodstream.

Treatment of shock

The most important treatment for shock is to treat the underlying condition.

Administer IV fluids, blood products, and colloids to help maintain the intravascular volume.

The administration of vasopressors such as epinephrine or norepinephrine may be needed to maintain tissue perfusion. One thing that's important to note is that we need to correct the patient's hypovolemia first before administering vasopressors.

In addition, septic shock may require antibiotics.

Nursing care for shock

Nursing care for shock includes administering oxygen as ordered. Help maintain a patent airway, and prepare for intubation if necessary.

We want to place our patient in shock position— supine with their legs elevated. Cathy refers to this as a modified Trendelenburg position.

Closely monitor vital signs, level of consciousness, and urine output.

Monitor for complications, including: multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). With DIC, the body forms micro clots all over the body, which can lead to ischemia. But it also places the patient at high risk for bleeding because clotting factors are being used.

Quiz Questions

A urine output under 30 milliliters an hour may be indicative of shock, true or false?

True

What type of shock is caused by heart pump failure?

Cardiogenic shock

Hypotension is a key symptom with which type of shock?

All types of shock

Full Transcript: Med-Surg - Cardiovascular System, part 21: Shock

Hi. I'm Cathy with Level Up RN. In this video, we are going to talk about shock. And if you wait till the end of the video, I'm going to give you guys a little quiz to test your knowledge of some of the key facts I'll be covering in this video. So definitely stay tuned for that. And if you have our Level Up RN medical-surgical nursing flashcards, definitely pull those out so you can follow along with me.

With shock, we have insufficient blood flow, such that we have lack of perfusion to the body's organs. So our organs are not getting the oxygen and nutrients that they need.

So this circulatory failure is caused by one of several different types of shock.

First of all, we have hypovolemic shock.

This can be caused due to blood loss associated with a trauma or with surgery. Hypovolemic shock can also be caused by GI losses, such as excess vomiting or diarrhea. It can also be caused by excess fluid loss, for example, with diuresis.

Then we have cardiogenic shock.

So this is where we have heart pump failure that can occur from an MI, from heart failure, from a valve or structural problem in the heart, as well as dysrhythmias.

Then we have obstructive shock.

This is where we have blockage of the great vessels or the heart itself. So examples of causes that can lead to obstructive shock include a PE, a tension pneumothorax, as well as a cardiac tamponade.

And then we have distributed shock, which leads to extreme systemic vasodilation, which causes the patient's blood pressure to plummet. 

And there are three different types of distributive shock.

We have septic shock, which is where we have endotoxins that end up in the bloodstream from an infection.

We have neurogenic shock, which is where we have dysfunction of the sympathetic nervous system that happens based on a trauma such as a spinal cord injury.

And then we have anaphylactic shock, which is where the patient has a reaction based on exposure to an allergen, which can lead to closure of the airway and the systemic vasodilation as well.

Signs and symptoms that are common across all these different types of shock include hypotension, tachycardia, tachypnea, weak pulses, as well as a decrease in urine output. So under 30 milliliters an hour. If the patient has anaphylactic shock, they may also have wheezing as well as angioedema.

In terms of labs, we will likely see an increase in serum lactate as well as abnormal ABGs. If the patient has cardiogenic shock, then we will also see an increase in cardiac enzymes. If the patient has hypovolemic shock, we will see a decrease in hemoglobin and hematocrit. And if we're talking about septic shock, then we will have positive blood cultures, because of the presence of endotoxins in the bloodstream.

In terms of treatment, we're going to want to treat the underlying condition. We're going to administer IV fluids as well as blood products and colloids to help maintain that intravascular volume. We're likely going to need to administer vasopressors such as epinephrine or norepinephrine. One thing that's important to note is that we need to correct the patient's hypovolemia first before administering vasopressors. In addition, we would need to give antibiotics for the case of septic shock.

In terms of nursing care, we're going to administer oxygen as ordered. Help maintain the patient's airway, and prepare for intubation if necessary. We want to place our patient in shock position, so that means they'll be supine with their legs elevated. So this is like modified Trendelenburg position. Or to closely monitor their vital signs, their level of consciousness, as well as their urine output.

And we're going to monitor for complications such as multiple organ dysfunction syndrome and something called DIC, which is disseminated intravascular coagulation. With DIC, the body forms all these micro clots all over the body, which can lead to ischemia. But it also places the patient at high risk for bleeding because all of those clotting factors are used up.

All right, time for Quiz. I have three questions for you. First question, a urine output under 30 milliliters an hour may be indicative of shock, true or false? The answer is true. Second question, what type of shock is caused by heart pump failure? The answer is cardiogenic shock. Question number three, hypotension is a key symptom with which type of shock? The answer is all of them. So that was a little tricky question. Hopefully, you don't hate me for that. But really hypotension is a key symptom for shock in general, no matter which type we're talking about. Okay, that's it for this video. I hope you have found it helpful. Take care and good luck with studying.

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1 comment

Thanks very much; very helpful information.

Francis Kofi Hefonu

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