 Welcome to nursing school explained in this video in the care plan help series where we go over patients glucose lab result So remember that glucose we don't have to only worry about in patients who are diabetic But in everybody because things at the hospital Medications the stress of the hospitalization might cause an elevation in their patients glucose level and most likely It's going to be higher rather than low unless the patient has a history of Diabetes then we definitely have to be concerned about their percentages of their meal eaten and their IV fluids as well as their insulin coverage so here for Glucose we always have to think about hydration as well because if the patient's glucose is high That means that the patient is very likely to be Dehydrated so we always want to check for increase in thirst signs and symptoms Signs and symptoms of dehydration starting from blood pressure and heart rate all the way to their skin turgor Mucous membranes and those kind of things We also want to assess the patient's eyes and nose to see how much are they actually Voiding and maybe are they spilling glucose in their urine? We want to check their level of consciousness that mostly applies to hypoglycemia But also patients with high blood sugars and they would have to be pretty elevated for them to have a Change in their mental status We want to always check the percentages of the meals that the patient is consuming because if they're not consuming enough They might not have enough glucose in their system to to sustain themselves And then if the patient is on insulin and this remember doesn't only apply to patients who are diabetic Sometimes they are put on insulin coverage At the hospital if the blood sugars are high for whatever reason maybe they're there on a On a high dose of a steroid for example that would be a reason So we always want to check the insulin and other any other medication dosages that could influence the patient's Glucose levels and then if they are known diabetic or maybe we are now Diagnosing and we're thinking them that maybe this patient is undiagnosed diabetic We want to check a hemoglobin a1c to see over the last 120 days How has their glucose levels been and then for our example here? We have this 45-year-old female after a cholecystectomy. She has a history of diabetes So we need to keep that into considerate take that into consideration History of hyperlipidemia and she's a smoker. So now what do we need to do for her? So all these assessments certainly will need to do If the patient was showed signs and symptoms of dehydration maybe with an elevated blood glucose level we would encourage PO fluids and Mostly stick with water here rather than promoting any kind of sugary drinks and also ask for an order to maybe increase her IV fluids to get that blood pressure up and get her hydrated Because if she's post the cholecystectomy, maybe this was more of an acute episode and she hasn't eaten Or drank anything in several days before she came to the hospital. I had that gallbladder removed now Maybe she has also vomited several times. So there's a there's a good likelihood that that she might be dehydrated So these interventions might be very helpful here Of course, we want to assess these other things and then we also want to assess the percentage of meals eaten So sometimes after cholecystectomy if this is the day of or maybe the day after the surgery The patient might still be on a clear liquid diet So we want to see maybe can we progress the diet as party orders or advocate for a change of anything Maybe that the patient would also Prefer over what maybe has been served to them in the past And then certainly we want to check the patient's insulin And dosages and maybe any other medication dosages because maybe at home She's just on an oral Antidiabetic medicine and not on insulin So we would have to kind of make this correlation there and compare that and certainly a1c would be An advantage or helpful in assessing how her hemoglobin How her glucose has been doing over the past three months so we can get a better idea of how this relates to the current situation So thanks so much for watching this video in the care plan help series about glucose Check out the other videos about all the other lab results Where I analyze them and tell you what the assessment and interventions could be so that you can shine on your next care plan Thanks for watching