Question

A nurse is caring for an 80-year-old patient who was admitted to the hospital with a diagnosis of dehydration. The patient stated he had been vomiting for 2 days and had been unable to take food or fluids. He has been healthy and currently takes only a diuretic for his blood pressure. On physical examination, the nurse notes that the patient's skin is dry with decreased turgor, oral mucous membranes are dry, heart rate is 100, and blood pressure is 90/60. The patient'urine is dark amber with a specific gravity of 1.028. His urine output was 30cc/hr for the past 4 hours since admission. 1. What type of renal failure is most often seen with dehydration? What signs and symptoms noted by the nurse are characteristic of renal failure? 2. If the blood pressure continued to drop in this patient and the patient developed acute tubular necrosis, what would happen to the kidney tubule?

Answer 1

Answer: Acute kidney failure occurs due to dehydration and if not treated may lead to serious damage to the kidney. The sign and symptoms of renal failure includes:

• Vomiting
• Dry skin
• Oral mucous membrane are dry
• Low blood pressure
• Umber coloured urine
• Low urine output.

Due to the low blood pressure, tubular necrosis occurs which causes damage to the kidney tubules cells. This will cause abnormalities in the filtration as well as reabsorption of minerals during the urine formation.