Question

Lenny is a 53-year- old man who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He is seeing a psychiatric nurse practitioner, who has prescribed lithium.

1. What type of client education would you want to provide to a client who is prescribed lithium?
2. What are the therapeutic and toxic blood levels of lithium?

Answer 1

Answer: Lithium is used to treat the bipolar disorder. It is important to provide patient education. The patient education should include:

• Should drink sufficient amount of water.
• Patient should take medicines on time and as prescribed.
• The dose should not be exceeded.
• Patient should have healthy diet such as avoid alcohol consumption, avoid oil foods.

The therapeutic level of the lithium in the blood is 0.6mEq/L to 1.2mEq/L. It means that the toxicity of the lithium occurs at the level which is higher than the 1.5mEq/L or above. The results could be lethal.