My Ob clinical rotation at PSL was an educational and overall a great opportunity. Throughout the 4 days I was at this facility I had opportunities to work with a few patients with different pregnancy complications. One patient I cared for and performed various nursing skills on had HTN superimposed preeclampsia. This experience compared to other experiences has taught me how important it is to be a critical thinker while caring for patients. So many other complications can occur with preeclampsia, putting mom and baby at risk for injury, so this was a very challenging patient and preventing complications or harm was most important. I learned how to evaluate the whole situation and know what interventions were needed to prevent injury.
Prior …show more content…
According to Lowdermilk (2016), “Help syndrome is a laboratory diagnosis for a variant of severe preeclampsia, that involves hepatic dysfunction” (p. 657). I learned why these specific labs were done, platelet counts, and liver enzymes on this patient. After interpreting labs and planning care with the nurse, I was successful at inserting my first IV for fluids and various medications, one that I will discuss was a high alert drug called magnesium sulfate. From the start of my nursing school journey and all my other experiences in clinical, I knew this one was one of the most eye-opening experiences for me. This medication required q 1-hour assessments after continuous infusion was started, and observation for possible toxicity. Magnesium sulfate is a drug that is used to prevent convulsions in a preeclampsia patient, Lowdermilk (2016) found “magnesium sulfate is the drug of choice for preventing and treating seizure activity” (p. 663). Preeclampsia can turn into eclampsia when seizures occur, putting mom and baby at a higher risk for injury. Magnesium sulfate relaxes smooth muscle so periodic assessments are done to determine if the patient has toxic level. I made sure respiratory rate was not be below 10, DTRs were not absent, output was recorded, and the patient did not
Prior …show more content…
According to Lowdermilk (2016), “Help syndrome is a laboratory diagnosis for a variant of severe preeclampsia, that involves hepatic dysfunction” (p. 657). I learned why these specific labs were done, platelet counts, and liver enzymes on this patient. After interpreting labs and planning care with the nurse, I was successful at inserting my first IV for fluids and various medications, one that I will discuss was a high alert drug called magnesium sulfate. From the start of my nursing school journey and all my other experiences in clinical, I knew this one was one of the most eye-opening experiences for me. This medication required q 1-hour assessments after continuous infusion was started, and observation for possible toxicity. Magnesium sulfate is a drug that is used to prevent convulsions in a preeclampsia patient, Lowdermilk (2016) found “magnesium sulfate is the drug of choice for preventing and treating seizure activity” (p. 663). Preeclampsia can turn into eclampsia when seizures occur, putting mom and baby at a higher risk for injury. Magnesium sulfate relaxes smooth muscle so periodic assessments are done to determine if the patient has toxic level. I made sure respiratory rate was not be below 10, DTRs were not absent, output was recorded, and the patient did not