Question

• .MS. Jemray is a 77-year-old female being treated for shock after a severe heart attack. Ms. Jemray ABG revealed hypoxemia and metabolic acidosis with some respiratory compensation. She states, “my heart is jumping out of my chest.”

----What type of shock is Ms. Jemray experiencing?

Explain your answer in detail, highlighting the pathophysiology of your answer

----What are the treatment plans for Ms. Jemray that are associated with this type of shock? Explain in detail

Answer 1

Hypovolemic shock:

Loss of excessive blood or other body fluids can cause hypovolemic shock, in which the blood pressure decreases.

During hypovolemic conditions, the body tries to maintain normal blood pressure by raising systemic vascular resistance. Under these conditions, the person with low blood volume is likely to show the near-normal blood pressure. But this does not mean that all the tissues are adequately perfused because the volume is low. This causes hypoxic conditions, tachycardia, and acidosis.

Hypoxia, metabolic acidosis, tachycardia (expressed as "my heart is jumping out of my chest") are all suggestive of hypovolemic shock.

Treatment of hypovolemic shock:

• Controlling the loss of fluid volume
• Replacing the lost fluid volume
• Treating the injury that caused blood loss
• Blood transfusion

All these measures help to restore the lost fluid volume, thus, treat hypovolemic shock.