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A nurse can assess for hypoxia in a patient in many different ways. Some signs of hypoxia can include flaring of the nostrils (usually in infants), tachycardia or tachypnea. It can also include the patient becoming restless, experiencing dyspnea, they may get out of breath upon lying down. If they have chronic hypoxia, the nurse would see things such as clubbing of the fingernails, a capillary refill greater than 3 seconds and cyanosis. The heart may compensate by increasing the workload, resulting in tachycardia. The blood pressure may decrease in an attempt to reduce the resistance of blood flow. Tachypnea is another compensatory mechanism in an attempt to reduce the amount of CO2 in the blood (respiratory acidosis.) Upon completion of an ABG, respiratory acidosis will likely be seen as the amount of CO2 is building up and is not being excreted adequately. It would also show a PaO2 less than 80 and an elevated PCO2. When a patient is experiencing hypoxia, it will also have effects to the cells. One of these effects include the cells reducing their ability to consume ATP. Cell metabolism is also affected for the duration of the hypoxia.
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SCIENCE
HEALTH SCIENCE
NURSING
NURS 3733
