So, a little while ago, I got an email from a student asking, "Christina!
How do I keep all of these signs and symptoms straight?!
Every disorder has different signs and symptoms, so how do I know if the blood pressure increases
or decreases, or if the heart rate goes up or down?!
HELP!"
Friend, I totally get it.
This is a HUGE struggle for nursing students, keeping all of those signs and symptoms straight
for your med-surg classes.
And so today, I'm going to go walk you through the signs and symptoms of shock.
Let's dive in!
Hey there friend, my name is Christina Rafano from nursingschoolofsuccess.com and here on
the nursing school show, we give you the tips and the resources that you need to save time
AND raise your grades in nursing school.
And today, we're talking about the signs and symptoms of shock.
And this one, girlfriend, is going to be a good one.
Because I am going start by telling you my ONE secret to acing med-surg exams, are you
ready?
You need to learn the PATHOPHYSIOLOGY FIRST, before you learn anything else!
That's right, the pathophysiology of the disorder is the most important thing for you to know,
because, everything else that you learn will stem from it.
So let's walk through the signs and symptoms of shock, and I'll show you what I mean.
Now of course, each type of shock will have it's own set to specific signs and symptoms,
but generally speaking, these general one's here may appear for most types of shock.
The largest exception is neurogenic shock, which tends to present quite differently than
what we'll talk about here in this video.
So here are the major signs and symptoms of shock that we'll talk about: increased heart
rate, increased respiratory rate, decreased blood pressure, thready pulse, decreased peripheral
pulses, cyanosis, neurological symptoms like restlessness, anxiety, confusion, lethargy,
or muscle weakness, decreased urine output, and absent bowel sounds.
So looking at this list, you might be getting really overwhelmed and wondering how in the
world can you memorize all of this.
And here's where learning the pathophysiology FIRST is super important.
You don't have to memorize this list.
Let's think about the pathophysiology of shock, what's really going on?
Shock basically just means a lack of blood flow to the organs, which can lead to organ
failure.
So this means there's reduced blood flow to the heart, the lungs, the brain, the kidneys,
and all of the other organs, right?
And now, knowing just that basic pathophysiology of shock, let's take another look at this
list again and do some critical thinking.
What do all of these signs and symptoms have in common?
They all have to do with a lack of blood flow!
So, the body always wants to stay in balance right.
So when the organs aren't getting enough blood, they are going to send signals to your brain
that say, "Umm hello up there!
I need some blood please!"
And the brain is going to send a signal to the heart to pump faster to try to get more
blood, it's going to tell the lungs to breathe faster to get more oxygen flowing, the blood
pressure is going to drop because the heart isn't able to pump out as much blood as it
was before.
The pulses will be also be thready, the peripheral pulses will be diminished, and cyanosis may
occur because of the lack of blood flow those parts of the body.
The patient may also have neurological symptoms like restlessness, anxiety, confusion, lethargy
or muscle weakness, because of the brain and muscles aren't getting as much blood.
And if the brain isn't getting as much blood as it needs, it gets super unhappy, and that's
when you may see some of those mental status changes happen.
Decreased urine output and absent bowel sounds can also occur because there isn't enough
blood going to the kidneys or the GI tract, so they can't do their job as well.
So all of these major signs and symptoms of shock are all connected with that underlying
pathophysiology - the lack of blood flow to the organs!
So how stinking cool is it that you can just learn the pathophysiology, and then BAM!
Your amazing critical thinking skills can walk you through the rest.
You won't need to spend hours and hours stressing about memorizing a long list of signs and
symptoms.
You'll already know them once you know the pathophysiology.
Super awesome right!!
And so those are the general signs and symptoms of shock.
They all have to do with the underlying pathophysiology: a lack of blood flow to the body, which can
lead to organ failure.
And of course, if you want a deeper dive into shock, it's pathophysiology, nursing assessment
and nursing interventions, you'll definitely want to jump into the NursingSOS Membership
community, where we've got all those videos for you and a whole lot more.
You are going to love it.
And I'm super excited to see you in there!
Fantastic job, girlfriend!
If you loved this video,ake sure to hit that like button, share it with a friend, and make
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video.
Now go become the nurse that God created only YOU to be.
And I'll catch you next time on the nursing school show, take care.