Question

A 24-year-old male arrives at the emergency department via air transport after sustaining a fall while rock climbing. The patient is unresponsive with sluggishly reactive pupils upon arrival. His right arm and bilateral lower extremities have obvious fractures. He was intubated by EMS and requires mechanical ventilation. A CT scan reveals multiple head bleeds and intracranial swelling with a midline shift. The patient is rushed to surgery with the plan to relieve the pressure of the intracranial swelling. The physician orders administration of an intravenous osmotic diuretic as the patient is en route to surgery. As the RN, you are familiar with the action of the drug, which increases the osmolality of the blood. Which of the following do you anticipate as the physiologic response to the administration of this medication? a) Increased extravascular volume and increased intravascular b) Increased extravascular volume and decreased intravascular c) Decreased extravascular volume and increased intravascular volume volume volume Decreased extravascular volume and decreased intravascular MacB esc 20 808 F1 F2 F3 FA

Answer 1

Answer: ( B)

Increased extravascular volume and decreased intravascular volume.

This is because the action of the drug includes the increase in the osmolality of the blood.