Dehydration

The residents we are entrusted to care for are normally very frail, and suffer from many comorbidities. Unfortunately, these make them susceptible to a number of dangerous situations which could potentially turn deadly. Weight loss, wounds, falls, dehydration, etc.

When it coms to dehydration, one may not be able to identify it until it’s too late. Hopefully, you have a great team of GNAs, nurses, dietician, housekeepers, rehab, etc who will identify subtle changes in behavior, and may prompt you to probe the possibility of the resident being dehydrated.

I am lucky to have a great dietician as part of our team, and she once taught me a trick with which to calculate the amount of free water a person may be missing in their system, and hence calculating the amount needed in order to replenish the resident and re-hydrate him or her.

The calculation is easy, and all you need is their latest labs results (specifically their Sodium (Na) level), and their weight (either in pounds or Kilos). Once these are plugged into the formula, you will be presented with the amount of free water needed to “fix” the issue.

I hope you find this useful,

http://www.medcalc.com/freewater.html