April 25, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
The history and physical examination in the patient with an acute elevation in systemic arterial blood pressure will focus on signs and symptoms of acute organ dysfunction. No specific blood pressure defines an hypertensive emergency.

April 24, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
The standard safe level of blood pressure reduction in hypertensive emergency is a 10% to 20% reduction of MAP from the highest values on clinical presentation, or a diastolic blood pressure typically in the 100 to 110 mm Hg range.

April 23, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
An acute elevation in systemic arterial blood pressure involves an increase in systemic vascular resistance. This increase in vascular resistance results from an interaction of vascular mediators in the setting of preexisting hypertension.

April 22, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
A rapid decrease in blood pressure in hypertensive urgency can cause cerebral or myocardial ischemia by aggressive antihypertensive therapy if the blood pressure falls below a level needed to maintain adequate tissue perfusion.

April 21, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
The term hypertensive urgency has been historically used to describe critically elevated blood pressure (>180/110 mm Hg) without evidence for acute and progressive dysfunction of target organs.

April 20, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
Clinical conditions associated with hypertensive emergency include hypertensive encephalopathy, intracranial hemorrhage, acute coronary syndrome, acute pulmonary edema, aortic dissection, acute renal failure and eclampsia.

April 19, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
Although hypertensive emergency is often associated with a blood pressure elevation >180/110 mm Hg, the diagnosis is based upon the patient’s clinical signs and symptoms rather than a specific blood pressure measurement.

April 18, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
Hypertensive emergency is a severe elevation in systemic blood pressure combined with new or progressive end-organ damage most frequently in the cardiac, renal and central nervous systems.

April 17, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
When agitation or delirium develops, a rapid assessment should be performed to rule out life-threatening problems (hypoxia, pneumothorax, hypotension), or other acutely reversible causes (hypoglycemia, metabolic acidosis, stroke, seizure, pain).

April 16, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
Hypoactive delirium, which is the most prevalent form of delirium, is characterized by decreased physical and mental activity and inattention. In contrast, hyperactive delirium is characterized by combativeness and agitation.

April 15, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
Agitation may be caused by various factors: metabolic disorders (hyponatremia and hypernatremia), hyperthermia, hypoxia, hypotension, use of sedative drugs and/or analgesics, sepsis, alcohol withdrawal and long-term psychoactive drug use.

April 14, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
A new or sudden change in the neurologic condition of a critically ill patient necessitates a neurologic examination, review of the clinical course, medications, laboratory data, and appropriate imaging or neurophysiologic studies.

April 13, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Critical Care Nursing

Category: Critical Care Nursing 
New-onset seizures in general medical-surgical intensive care unit patients are typically caused by narcotic withdrawal, hyponatremia, drug toxicities or previously unrecognized structural abnormalities.

April 12, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Therapeutic oral doses of barbiturates produce mild decreases in pulse and blood pressure, similar to sleep. With toxic doses, hypotension occurs from depression of the myocardium along with pooling of blood in a dilated venous system.

April 11, 2025

Nursing Tip of the Day! - Fundamentals

Category: Fundamentals 
Barbiturates act directly on the medulla to produce respiratory depression. In therapeutic doses, this respiratory depression mimics that of normal sleep. With toxicity, the neurogenic, chemical and hypoxic respiratory drives are suppressed.