Acute Kidney Injury: Identifying Signs, Symptoms, and Stages, Exams of Nursing

Download Acute Kidney Injury: Identifying Signs, Symptoms, and Stages and more Exams Nursing in PDF only on Docsity! Acute kidney injury nCLEX ______________ is solely filtered from the bloodstream via the glomerulus and is NOT reabsorbed back into the bloodstream but is excreted through the urine. A. Urea B. Creatinine C. Potassium D. Magnesium -The answer is B. Creatinine is a waste product from muscle breakdown and is removed from the bloodstream via the glomerulus of the nephron. It is the only substance that is solely filtered out of the blood but NOT reabsorbed back into the system. It is excreted out through the urine. This is why a creatinine clearance test is used as an indicator for determining renal function and for calculating the glomerular filtration rate. A patient with acute renal injury has a GFR (glomerular filtration rate) of 40 mL/min. Which signs and symptoms below may this patient present with? Select all that apply: A. Hypervolemia B. Hypokalemia C. Increased BUN level D. Decreased Creatinine level -The answers are A and C. The glomerular filtration rate indicates how well the glomerulus is filtering the blood. A normal GFR tends to be 90 mL/min or higher. A GFR of 40 mL/min indicates that the kidney's ability to filter the blood is decreased. Therefore, the kidneys will be unable to remove waste and excessive water from the blood...hence hypervolemia and an increased BUN level will present in this patient. The patient will experience HYPERkalemia (not hypo) because the kidneys are unable to remove potassium from the blood. In addition, an INCREASED creatinine level (not decreased) will present because the kidneys cannot remove excessive waste products, such as creatinine. You're assessing morning lab values on a female patient who is recovering from a myocardial infraction. Which lab value below requires you to notify the physician? A. Potassium level 4.2 mEq/L B. Creatinine clearance 35 mL/min C. BUN 20 mg/dL D. Blood pH 7.40 -The answer is B. A normal creatinine clearance level in a female should be 85-125 mL/min (95-140 mL/min males). A creatinine clearance level indicates the amount of blood the kidneys can make per minute that contain no amounts of creatinine in it. Remember creatinine is a waste product of muscle breakdown. Therefore, the kidneys should be able to remove excessive amounts of it from the bloodstream. A patient who has experienced a myocardial infraction is at risk for pre-renal acute injury due to decreased cardiac output to the kidneys from a damaged heart muscle (the heart isn't able to pump as efficiently because of ischemia). All the other labs values are normal. A 55-year-old male patient is admitted with a massive GI bleed. The patient is at risk for what type of acute kidney injury? A. Post-renal B. Intra-renal C. Pre-renal D. Intrinsic renal -The answer is C. Pre-renal injury is due to decreased perfusion to the kidneys secondary to a cause (massive GI bleeding...patient is losing blood volume). This leads to a major decrease in kidney function because the kidneys are deprived of nutrients to function and the amount of blood it can filter. Pre-renal injury can eventually lead to intrarenal damage where the nephrons become damaged. Select all the patients below that are at risk for acute intra-renal injury? A. A 45 year old male with a renal calculus. B. A 65 year old male with benign prostatic hyperplasia. C. A 25 year old female receiving chemotherapy. D. A 36 year old female with renal artery stenosis. E. A 6 year old male with acute glomerulonephritis. F. An 87 year old male who is taking an aminoglycoside medication for an infection. -The answers are: C, E, and F. These patients are at risk for an intra-renal injury, which is where there is damage to the nephrons of kidney. The patients in options A and B are at risk for POST-RENAL injury because there is an obstruction that can cause back flow of urine into the kidney, which can lead to decreased function of the kidney. The patient in option D is at risk for PRE-RENAL injury because there is an issue with perfusion to the kidney. A patient with acute kidney injury has the following labs: GFR 92 mL/min, BUN 17 mg/dL, potassium 4.9 mEq/L, and creatinine 1 mg/dL. The patient's 24 hour urinary output is 1.75 Liters. Based on these findings, what stage of AKI is this patient in?