 Welcome to nursing school explained and another video in the care plan help series today. We'll focus on Potassium and what the lab value means To nursing considerations and how you relate that lab value to your patient in clinical So let's go ahead and take a look here. So whenever there's potassium involved We want to think about the heart and muscles in general So specifically for your patient We're going to assess the heart rate and check for regularity because we know the potassium imbalances can cause an irregular heart rate So when we detect this irregularity remember that we need to count the apical pulse for one minute to get the exact heart rate and determine the Irregularity from there Then of course if the patient is on telemetry or if there's an EKG available that'll help us decide Or see what kind of underlying dysrhythmia the patient might have and then potassium always relates to the kidneys Where sodium and potassium gets assessed. So these other lab values are important to correlate here as well We also want to check to see what kind of IV fluids the patient is on Maybe it's just the regular hydration fluids such as sodium chloride or maybe there is potassium replacement in that IV solution that could some have something to do with an imbalance in potassium and Potassium imbalances also manifest themselves with generalized weakness and or muscle cramping and then because the bowel consists of Muscles we also want to check the patient's bowel sounds because they might be hypo or hyperactive if the potassium is out of balance Certainly with potassium We always have to think about the kidneys and consider any history of renal disorders This patient might have and or if they're on dialysis, which specifically puts them at high risk for hyper Calemia and then certainly medications can also affect the patient's potassium level So we'll need to correlate that specifically any medications that are affecting the heart rate such as the joxin and then all Diuretics as well as anything that affects the kidney such as ACE inhibitors ARB's and Like I already said all diuretics whether or not they are potassium Wasting or sparing because they can certainly affect the patient's potassium level now if we are looking here at a specific example of a 45 year old female who status Post-cholocystectomy and her past medical history includes diabetes hyperlipidemia and she's a smoker So now when we are thinking about specifically about the patient's potassium level and we are already assessing all of this What is it that that kind of relates to this specific patient care scenario? So there's not really any history here that predisposes her to any potassium imbalances, but she just had surgery So we need to see what kind of IV fluids did she receive during surgery? How far out is she from surgery and what IV fluids if any is she getting right now? Is there any potassium being replaced and if so if the potassium is out of balance? Maybe we need to change the type of IV solution the patient is receiving of course We need an order for that if the potassium is low We need to consider potassium replacement or if it's high then we certainly need to treat that also and or consider dialysis if this patient would have a history of renal failure and dialysis to get that potassium back to normal levels and Potassium is one of those really really important electrolytes that we always need to keep an eye on especially if the patient has taken any of these medications and order some underlying Kidney disease so make sure that you look at the patient's past medical history and tie that in and also Assess the patient that's right there in front of you know what potassium Affects in the body so that you know what you need to assess to show that your professor to show that to your professor And so that they understand or they can tell that you are able to analyze and critically think about the specific patient That you're encountering in clinical Thanks for watching Please check out the other videos in these the care plan help series to help you analyze the labs and the nursing Considerations and tie it all together. Thanks for watching