Question

A 3-year-old boy presents to the emergency department. His parents report 3 days of fever, lethargy, and poor feeding intake. They report diarrhea and visible blood in his stool for the past day. During assessment by the RN, the patient is irritable and shows signs of moderate dehydration. The patient is admitted to the hospital and worked up for gastrointestinal illness.

The RN expects all of the following to be ordered as treatment for this patient, except

1.electrolyte replacement.

2.plasma transfusions.

3.antibiotics.

4.fluid resuscitation.

Answer 1

In this case of diarrhea, with fever, lethargy, and poor feeding, the RN is expected to provide the following as treatment;

1) electrolyte replacement : This serves to replace salts lost during diarrhea, and replenish electrolytes.

3) antibiotics : to treat fever , reduce/remove bacterial infection

4) Fluid resuscitation : to replenish fluids lost, and cure dehydration due to diarrhea

RNs is not likely to order 2)Plama tranfusion, since that is mostly done with clotting related issues (treting clotting factor deficiency) /disorders/for invasive procedures.Though the pateint shows blood in stool, this would mostly be due to ulceration in the colon.