Acid Base Balance Essay

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Acid-Base Balance
Kelly Heffron
Grand Canyon University NUR-614
September 16, 2015

Acid-Base Balance
The acid base balance is a homeostatic process that aides the body in maintaining a pH in the arterial blood between 7.35-7.45 (Patient, 2015). The body works together through multi-systems to ensure that acidity or alkalinity never take over within the blood. The purpose of the following paper is define the classification of the acid-base balance, define the factors from the case study, explain the pathophysiology, describe the compensatory mechanisms, pharmacological interventions, and the educational needs of patients with an imbalance.
Classification
In the following case study, the patient presents with metabolic alkalosis. …show more content…
The patient also consume sodium bicarbonate, which added to the increase in HCO3 in the body. This continued to cause the pH in the blood to rise, causing a state of metabolic alkalosis. With the volume loss, the renal system reacts with secretions of renin and aldosterone and enhanced absorption of HCO3 (Medscape, 2015). Generally compensation for this condition occurs through respiratory compensation.
Respiratory Compensation When metabolic alkalosis occurs and the pH in the arterial blood increases, the respiratory mechanisms kick in to return the body to homeostasis. When HCO3 increases in the blood, the body begins to hypoventilate to increase the PaCO2, carbon dioxide, in an effort to restore a normal pH. The pulmonary response causes a build-up of carbon ions, which are acidic, to combat the excess bicarbonate in the blood (Medscape, 2015). The case study shows that there is not compensation, because the PaCO2 levels were 40mm Hg with the normal levels are 35-45mm Hg (Medscape, 2015).
Pharmacological Interventions With the case study scenario, the treatment would focus on the underlying cause of the condition. Ideally, the patient would be treated for hypovolemia, or dehydration from the decrease in intake and the loss of fluid from the vomiting. The patient may be treated with anti-emetics to treat the nausea (Medscape, 2015). Another way
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