Human Body And Nursing Essay

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Water is essential for the human body to function. The body cannot store water and must have fresh supplies every day to perform virtually every metabolic process.( Water - a vital nutrient, 2014) Between osmolality, pH balances, Third Space Loss, sensible and insensible losses, assessments, and treatments; water has a lot of compartments and does lot for the body. In this paper I will discuss those certain topics and give an overview on how healthcare providers and nurses can provide the most efficient and sensible care when it comes to prognoses and diagnoses related to water intake and output. Keywords: Water, Compartments, Cells, Output, Intakes How Water Influences the Human Body and Nursing Water is the largest and most important nutrient …show more content…

This is when osmatic pressure comes and plays a key role in the movement of water across a membrane from an area of low concentration to an area of higher concentration (p. 179). The osmatic pressure also helps with our sodium and potassium pumps found throughout the body. This helps maintain electrolyte concentration of the intracellular and extracellular fluids (p. 179). For the intake of water the main organ responsible would go to the hypothalamus found in the brain, it detects the pressure and allows the body to begin the process of thirst (p. 181). For excretion responsibilities we look at two hormones, Antidiuretic (water retention) and Aldosterone (sodium retention). In the same moments we can maintain balances, imbalances can also occur. Syndrome of Inappropriate Antidiuretics occurs when ADH does not decrease in response to low serum osmolality causing fluid overload (p. 181). Another type is Diabetes Insipidus which occurs from a deficiency of ADH and excess loss of water during urination (p. 181). A patient’s daily weight gain and lose can tell you about the fluid status throughout the …show more content…

After researching what water means to the body and how it functioned, regulated, and what certain build ups and breakdowns it can cause to the body. I asked myself, what does this mean to a nurse and how does it influence my care plans? With water being the most important nutrient for the body, I would think as a nurse and healthcare provider it would be first on my list to keep and maintain my patient at a healthy hydration level. Yes age, diet, environment, weight, and activity levels play huge factors in treating the patient, but the techniques to measure and diagnosis the patient remain at a constant level. Examples of all this could be through perspiration, urine, gastrointestinal, the lungs and skin. Paying attention to a patient’s travel history and location more than anything can also help, because the greater losses of water occur at high temperatures, high altitudes, and in low humidity. Whether those techniques involve assessments such as daily weight and documenting intake and output of fluids, or restrictions to teach the patient about the body’s inabilities and abilities for fluids, they need to be

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