Nursing Tip of the Day! - Psychiatric Nursing

Category: Psychiatric Nursing 
A common impairment among people with schizophrenia is delusional thinking. Delusions are fixed, false beliefs that persist in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence. 

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Psychiatric Nursing

Category: Psychiatric Nursing 
The positive symptoms of schizophrenia manifest in many forms, including distortion of reality. Hallucinations are the perception of a sensory process in the absence of an external source. 

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 

Initial management of the patient with a suspected CNS infection focuses on ensuring oxygenation and perfusion. Although there is a concern regarding brain edema, establishing a MAP that maintains cerebral perfusion takes priority.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
The constellation of symptoms that may classically occur in an acute CNS infection consists of fever, headache, photophobia, nuchal rigidity, lethargy, malaise, altered sensorium, seizures, vomiting and chills.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Meningitis is an inflammation of the membranes of the brain or spinal cord and is also called arachnoiditis or leptomeningitis. Encephalitis denotes inflammation of the brain itself. Myelitis refers to inflammation of the spinal cord.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Acute, generalized muscle weakness can be seen with a number of severe electrolyte abnormalities of any cause: hypokalemia, hyperkalemia, hypocalcemia, hypercalcemia, hypomagnesemia and hypophosphatemia.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Infantile botulism results from the ingestion of spores that are able to germinate and produce toxin in the high pH of the gastrointestinal tract of infants. Botulism spores can survive in honey, so it is recommended that honey not be fed to infants.

The Nurse Nacole Podcast: Toxic Work Environment Advice

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 

Because the botulinum toxin decreases cholinergic output, anticholinergic signs may be present: constipation, urinary retention, dry skin and eyes, increased temperature and dilated, non-reactive pupils.

Reviewing Medication Errors: What Went Wrong?

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
The classic feature of botulism is a descending, symmetrical, flaccid paralysis. Cranial nerves and bulbar muscles are affected first, causing diplopia, dysarthria, and dysphagia, followed later by generalized weakness.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 

The botulinum toxin blocks both voluntary motor and autonomic functions. There is no pain or sensory deficit. The onset of symptoms is 6 to 48 hours after the ingestion of tainted food. Symptoms of gastroenteritis may or may not be present.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
The botulinum toxin works by binding irreversibly to the presynaptic membrane of peripheral and cranial nerves, inhibiting the release of ACh at the peripheral nerve synapse. As new receptors are generated, the patient improves.

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Botulism is a toxin-mediated illness that can cause weakness leading to respiratory insufficiency. In 2011, there was an outbreak among eight prisoners in Utah who drank “pruno,” a prison-made wine. 

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Myasthenic crisis is defined as respiratory failure leading to mechanical ventilation. It occurs in 15% to 20% of patients with myasthenia gravis, usually within the first 2 years of disease onset.