Surgery Flashcards
Urine output should be maintained at what rate?
0.5 CCs per kg per hour (Or 30CCs per hour)
What imaging studies are safe for pregnant patients?
MRI
Ultrasound
Patient in the hospital is vomiting blood. What is the first question we need to ask of the nursing staff?
How much is he vomiting?
Patient in the hospital is vomiting blood. You want to know how much he’s vomiting. How can you check this?
NG tube output
Patient presents with bright red blood per rectum and epigastric tenderness. What diagnostic maneuver can help determine the source of the bleeding?
NG Tube. If you get bile back, you know it’s not coming from the upper GI tract. But if you get blood back, then you know it’s an upper GI bleed
MCC of nonsurgical perioperative death
Respiratory complications
Functions of the kidney
- Regulation of salt/water balance
- Excretion of water-soluble metabolic end products
- Excretion of toxins
- Production of hormones
Patient presents with severe pancreatitis and is in shock. pH is 7.3 and he has very low bicarb levels. What is the metabolic abnormality?
Metabolic acidosis (remember that just the fact that he arrived in shock indicates that he’s going to be in metabolic acidosis because of the increased anaerobic respiration and lactate production)
Patient presents needing emergency surgery and is hypotensive. In addition to fluids, what else does the patient require?
Vasopressors (NE, Dopamine)
65yo male presents 5 years post renal transplant and needs surgery for a perforated gastric ulcer. What do we need to know about the patient?
We need to know if he’s on steroids
If a patient is on steroid therapy, what do we need to give them before surgery?
A large dose of hydrocortisone
What do we need to institute in a patient in acute renal failure? Why?
- Restrictions of: Fluids, Na+, K+, Mg+, and Phosphates
- Because the kidneys can’t clear them
What things might impair wound healing?
- Radiation
- Hypovolemia
- Obesity
- Uncontrolled blood sugars
- Chemotherapy
- Smoking
- Malnutrition
Physiologic complications that can occur when inflating the abdomen with CO2
- Decreased venous return –> Decreased CO
- Increased SVR
- Hypercapnia
- Decreased lung volume
Contraindications to tube feeding
- Obstruction
- Fistula
- GI tract bleeding
- Inflammatory bowel disease
- Short bowel syndrome
- Hemodynamically unstable
Post-op patient has SVT. What’s the first thing you check?
Mg and K+ levels
Fecaloid vomiting is associated with what?
Distal small bowel obstruction
What metabolic derangement is associated with gastric outlet obstruction?
-Hypochloremic, hypokalemic metabolic alkalosis (because of the associated vomiting)
Does IV (parenteral) or enteric feeding have more functional complications?
IV feeding; there are more functional problems for TPN
MC inherited bleeding disorder
von Willebrands disease
What are some of the many systems hypovolemia has deleterious effects on?
- Wound healing
- Immune function
- Nutritional status
- Kidney function
- Cognitive function
- Acid/Base balance
What’s the best way to prevent a DVT?
Early mobilization
Other than early mobilization, what are other ways to protect against DVT development?
- Compression stockings
- Sequential compression devices
- Heparin
What hormones are involved in the immediate response to hypovolemia?
- NE
- Epi
- Aldosterone
- ADH
Aside fromt he fact that elderly patients have a “limited reserve”, why are they more prone to hypotension when they’re hypovolemic than an younger patient?
Because their kidneys have a decreased renin response to volume contraction
MCC of hypokalemia?
Loop diuretics
What’s the best way to assess for bleeding tendencies?
- Family/Medical history
- Ask about easy bruising, gingival bleeding, hematuria, heavy menstrual bleeding, epistaxis
If a patient has a fever on post-op day #6, what is the likely cause?
Wound infection