Skip navigation

Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid Base Care Plans

Nursing care plans then Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid Base

Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid Base Care Plans

Numbers with a nursing action attached. The item turns on what you do about the value, not on the value itself.

13 plans in this system

Reference values are free everywhere. What these plans add is the nursing action attached to each abnormal value, including what to hold, what to monitor, and how fast correction may safely proceed.

CP-031Members only

Hypovolemia and Dehydration

These items test whether you catch hypovolemia before the blood pressure falls.

CP-032Members only

Hyperkalemia

These items test the order of treatment and what each drug actually does.

CP-033Members only

Hyponatremia

These items test the correction rate and the neurologic presentation.

CP-113Members only

Hypokalemia

Administration items dominate, and the answer is always to dilute and pump rather than push.

CP-114Members only

Hypernatremia

Stems put a confused older adult or a tube fed patient in front of you and expect you to recognize a water deficit.

CP-115Members only

Hypercalcemia and Hypocalcemia

The pair is tested by findings, so match irritability to a low value and sedation to a high one.

CP-116Members only

Hypomagnesemia

The highest yield item is the refractory potassium, and the correct action is to check and replace magnesium.

CP-117Members only

Fluid Volume Overload

The reliable item is which assessment best measures fluid status, and the answer is the daily weight rather than intake and output.

CP-118Members only

Metabolic Acidosis

Stems describe deep rapid breathing and expect you to name it compensation rather than distress.

CP-119Members only

Metabolic Alkalosis

The stem is usually a patient on continuous gastric suction with new tingling and twitching.

CP-120Members only

Respiratory Acidosis and Respiratory Alkalosis

Expect at least one gas to interpret, and the shortcut is that the value moving opposite the pH names the cause.

CP-121Members only

Intravenous Therapy, Infiltration, and Phlebitis

Items ask you to distinguish infiltration from phlebitis by findings, so match cool and swollen to one and red and warm to the other.

CP-140Members only

Hypovolemic Shock

Priority items place a normal blood pressure next to a rising heart rate and expect you to act anyway.

Opening a plan

Every title here is a real plan. The full body of each one, including the interventions and rationales, is part of a NurseStudy Prep membership. Log in to open them, or see what a membership includes.

Educational use. These care plans are study aids. They do not replace your course instruction, your clinical judgment, or the guidance of the provider and the facility caring for the patient.

Care plan format. Diagnosis wording, reference ranges, and documentation requirements vary by school and by facility. Follow the format your own program requires and the standards of the institution where you practice.

NCLEX-RN is a registered trademark of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. NurseStudyPrep.com is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or approved by NCSBN. References to the examination are descriptive only.