Med-Surg - Cardiovascular System, part 8: Fluid Volume Deficit and Excess

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In this article, we give an overview of fluid volume deficit and fluid volume excess, including the pathophysiology, risk factors, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment options. This disease is covered in our Medical-Surgical Flashcards (Cardiovascular system).

Fluid volume deficit

In fluid volume deficit, the body's fluid output exceeds the body's fluid intake, which causes hypovolemia.

Fluid volume deficit risk factors

Risk factors associated with fluid-volume deficit include GI losses, such as excess vomiting, diuretics, hemorrhaging, diabetes insipidus, as well as hyperventilation.

Fluid volume deficit signs/symptoms

A lack of fluid volume causes blood pressure to drop, which can result in hypotension. The body will try to compensate for this hypotension by increasing the respiration rate and heart rate. This can lead to tachypnea and tachycardia.

Fluid volume deficit can also cause weak, thready pulses. The patient may feel weak and thirsty. It can also result in prolonged capillary refill time, and oliguria (decreased urine). This is pretty easy to remember for your nursing exams—If the patient is dehydrated or lacking in fluid volume, they're not going to be peeing a lot.

Fluid volume deficit can also result in flattened jugular veins.

Fluid volume deficit labs/diagnostics

A patient with fluid volume deficit may have concentrated blood and concentrated urine, which can result in an increase in urine specific gravity and urine osmolarity, an increase in hematocrit, serum osmolarity, and BUN.

Fluid volume deficit treatment

Treatment for fluid volume deficit includes providing the patient with IV fluid replacement.

Fluid volume deficit nursing care

Nursing care for a patient with fluid volume deficit includes monitoring their input and output, because if their urine output drops below 30 mL/hr, then it can be indicative of hypovolemic shock. Notify the provider if the urine output falls below 30 mL/hr.

Also, implement fall precautions as the physical weakness increases the likelihood of falling.

Fluid volume excess

Fluid volume excess is excessive intake of fluid, or inadequate excretion of fluid, which causes hypervolemia.

Fluid volume excess risk factors

Risk factors for fluid volume excess include kidney dysfunction. The kidneys are supposed to help with excretion of excess fluid and electrolytes. If the kidneys aren't working properly, then that fluid can back up into the body.

Heart failure is another key risk factor for fluid volume excess. If the heart is not beating effectively, then fluid can back up. Other risk factors include corticosteroids and cirrhosis.

Fluid volume excess signs/symptoms

Signs and symptoms of fluid volume excess can include weight gain, edema, hypertension, bounding pulses, as well as jugular vein distension.

Fluid volume excess can also cause tachycardia because the heart is being overwhelmed with all this excess fluid. So it will try to beat faster to compensate. The fluid can also back up into the lungs, and that can cause dyspnea as well as crackles and tachypnea.

Fluid volume excess labs/diagnostics

Fluid volume excess is the opposite of fluid volume deficit, which we covered previously. So the labs and diagnostics you need to know for fluid volume excess are the same as fluid volume deficit, but in the opposite direction.

Labs and diagnostics include: decrease in hemoglobin, decrease in hematocrit, decrease in serum osmolarity, diluted urine, and a decrease in urine specific gravity.

Fluid volume excess treatment

The go-to treatment for fluid volume excess is diuretics. There are loop diuretics (furosemide), thiazide diuretics (hydrochlorothiazide), osmotic diuretics (mannitol), and potassium sparing diuretics (spironolactone).

These medications are covered in our Pharmacology Flashcards for Nursing Students.

Fluid volume excess nursing care

Nursing care for a patient with fluid volume excess includes weighing the patient daily. In this article's video, Cathy emphasizes, "not once a week, not every other day, every single day."

If the patient has a weight gain of 1 - 2 lbs within a 24-hour period, or a weight gain of 3+ lbs within a week, then notify the provider.

Sit the patient up, and oxygen may need to be provided to make it easier to breathe.

Take great care with the patient's skin, because their skin will be very fragile if they have a lot of excess fluid. As Cathy describes in the video, their skin can be almost like tissue paper if the edema is really severe

Restricting fluid and sodium intake

You will likely need to restrict the patient's fluid and sodium intake, per provider's orders. This will likely be difficult for the patient, and, as Cathy shares from experience in the video, the patient may try to ask anybody who walks in the room to get more fluids.

This is very normal. Water is our most essential survival need, so feeling like you don't have enough water can feel like a crisis. But it is important for patient safety to follow the provider's orders for fluid intake As the bedside nurse, write on the whiteboard if the patient is on fluid restrictions, and share that information with the care team as well.

Monitor for complications

If you have a patient with fluid volume excess, monitor for complications, including pulmonary edema, (because of the backup of fluid on the lungs) as well as heart failure. Heart failure can cause fluid volume excess; it can also be a complication of fluid-volume excess.

Quiz Questions

When caring for a patient with fluid volume excess, what amount of weight gain should you report to the provider?

1 - 2 lbs in 24 hours, or 3+ lbs in a week

An increase in serum osmolarity and urine specific gravity is expected with fluid volume excess. True or false?

False. We would expect this increase with fluid volume deficit instead

When caring for a patient with a fluid-volume deficit, a urine output less than 30 milliliters per hour may indicate hypovolemic shock. True or false?

True

Full Transcript: Med-Surg - Cardiovascular System, part 8: Fluid Volume Deficit and Excess

Hi, I'm Cathy, with Level Up RN. In this video, I am going to talk about fluid-volume deficit and fluid-volume access. Very important topics. You can see there's a lot of bold red text on these cards. So if you have our medical-surgical nursing flashcards, definitely pay attention to that bold red text and review those items. So at the end of the video, I'm going to provide 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 cards, be sure to pull those out so you can follow along with me.

With fluid-volume deficit, our fluid output exceeds our fluid intake, which causes hypovolemia.

Risk factors associated with fluid-volume deficit include GI losses such as excess vomiting, diuretics, hemorrhaging, diabetes insipidus, as well as hyperventilation. Those are just some of the risk factors.

In terms of signs and symptoms, when we have a lack of fluid volume, that's going to cause our blood pressure to drop. So we're going to have hypotension. And then your body will try to compensate for this hypotension by increasing your respiration rate and your heart rate. So you're going to have tachypnea and tachycardia. We're also going to see weak, thready pulses when a patient has fluid-volume deficit. They may feel weak and thirsty. In addition, we will see prolonged capillary refill time. We'll see oliguria. So that means not a lot of urine, which makes sense. If the patient is dehydrated or lacking in fluid volume, they're not going to be peeing a lot. And then, we're also going to see flattened jugular veins.

So in terms of labs, we're going to have concentrated blood and concentrated urine. So we're going to see an increase in hematocrit as well as serum osmolarity and BUN. And then, our urine is going to be concentrated as well. So we're going to see an increase in urine-specific gravity as well as urine as uring osmolarity.

In terms of treatment, we're going to provide the patient with IV fluid replacement.

And then for nursing care, we're going to closely monitor the patient's I's and O's because if their urine output drops below 30 milliliters an hour, then that may be indicative of hypovolemic shock. So we're definitely going to want to notify the provider if that urine output falls below 30. And then, we're also going to want to implement fall precautions because the patient's going to be weak and more likely to fall.

With fluid-volume excess, we have hypervolemia. So we have excessive intake of fluid or inadequate excretion of fluid.

Risk factors include kidney dysfunction. So the kidneys are supposed to get rid of excess fluid and electrolytes. So if the kidneys aren't working properly, then that fluid can back up into the body. Heart failure is another key risk factor for fluid-volume excess because if the heart's not beating effectively, then fluid can back up. Other risk factors include corticosteroids as well as cirrhosis.

In terms of signs and symptoms, signs and symptoms of fluid-volume excess can include weight gain, edema, hypertension, bounding pulses, as well as jugular vein distension. It can also cause tachycardia because the heart is being overwhelmed with all this excess fluid. So it will try to beat faster to compensate. The fluid can also back up into the lungs, and that can cause dyspnea as well as crackles and tachypnea.

So in terms of labs, when we were talking about fluid-volume deficit, everything was concentrated. The blood and the urine were both concentrated. Here, with fluid-volume excess, everything is diluted. So we're going to have a decrease in hemoglobin and hematocrit in the blood, and we're going to have a decrease in serum osmolarity. The urine is also going to be diluted. So we're going to have a decrease in urine specific gravity.

In terms of treatment, the go-to treatment for this is diuretics, and I have a whole video on diuretics in my pharmacology playlist. So you can check that out.

In terms of nursing care, we're going to want to weigh our patient on a daily basis. So not once a week, not every other day, every single day. And if the patient has a weight gain of one to two pounds within a 24-hour period or a weight gain of three pounds or more within a week, then we want to notify the provider. We also want to sit the patient up, and we may need to provide oxygen as well to make it easier to breathe. We're going to want to take great care for the patient's skin because their skin will be very fragile if they have a lot of excess fluid. It can be almost like tissue paper if the edema is really bad.

We also are likely going to be restricting the patient fluid and sodium intake per orders. And that's going to be really hard on the patient, and sometimes they'll try to hit up anybody who walks in the room to get more fluids. So as the bedside nurse, definitely write it on the whiteboard if the patient is on fluid restrictions, and definitely share that information with the care team as well.

As a wound care nurse, sometimes I'm taking care of a patient and as I'm leaving, I'm like, "Do you need anything before I go?" And they're like, "Can you get me some water?" And then I'll look at the whiteboard and I'll say fluid restriction, and I'll be like, "You know what? I'm going to have to check with the nurse," and they're like, "Oh. Almost got it."

Anyway, we also want to monitor for complications, which include pulmonary edema, because of that backup of fluid on the lungs, as well as heart failure. So heart failure can cause fluid-volume excess. It can also be a complication of fluid-volume excess.

All right. Time for a quiz. Are you guys ready? I have three questions for you.

Question number one. When caring for a patient with fluid-volume excess, what amount of weight gain should you report to the provider?

The answer is... one to two pounds in 24 hours, or three pounds in a week.

Question number two. An increase in serum osmolarity and urine specific gravity is expected with fluid-volume excess. True or false?

The answer is...false. So we would expect this increase with fluid-volume deficit.

Question number three. When caring for a patient with a fluid-volume deficit, a urine output less than 30 milliliters per hour may indicate hypovolemic shock. True or false?

The answer is...true.

Okay. I hope that quiz was helpful, and I hope this video has been helpful as well. If so, be sure to like the video and leave me a comment. Take care and good luck with studying.

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