NSG 3023 Chapter 18 QUIZ
Chapter 18: Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balances
Potter: Essentials for Nursing Practice, 8th Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A nurse is caring for a patient who is suffering from kidney failure and is receiving
peritoneal dialysis. The nurse explains that peritoneal dialysis works by instilling a solution
into the abdomen that contains dextrose that will pull extra fluid into the abdominal cavity.
What is the name of this process?
a. Diffusion
b. Osmosis
c. Filtration
d. Active transport
ANS: B
Osmosis is movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from a compartment of
lower particle concentration to one that has a higher particle concentration. Diffusion is
passive movement of electrolytes or other particles from an area of higher concentration to
an area of lower concentration. In other words, the electrolytes move down their
concentration gradient until the electrolyte concentration is equal in all areas. Electrolytes
cannot diffuse across cell membranes unless the membranes have proteins that serve as ion
channels. Filtration is the net effect of several forces that tend to move fluid across a
membrane. Active transport is the energy-requiring movement of electrolytes or other
substances across cell membranes against their concentration gradient (from an area of low
concentration to an area of higher concentration).
PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Remembering (Knowledge)
REF: 465
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
electrolyte, and acid-base balances. TOP: Nursing Process: Assessment
MSC: NCLEX: Physiological Integrity
2. A patient has been admitted to the postsurgical nursing unit after surgery. The health care
provider has ordered the patient to have an IV of 0.9% sodium chloride. The nurse who is
caring for the patient recognizes this as what type of solution?
a. Hypotonic
b. Isotonic
c. Hypertonic
d. Hypnotic
ANS: B
Fluids that have the same osmolality as normal blood are called isotonic. Intravenous (IV)
solutions are hypertonic, isotonic, or hypotonic. Isotonic solutions such as 0.9% sodium
chloride (same osmolality as normal blood) expand the body’s extracellular fluid volume
without causing water to shift in or out of cells. There is no hypnotic solution.
, PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Remembering (Knowledge)
REF: 465
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
electrolyte, and acid-base balances. TOP: Nursing Process: Assessment
MSC: NCLEX: Physiological Integrity
3. The patient is in a coma after a motor vehicle accident. In addition to IV medications, the
patient is receiving an isotonic IV fluid. The primary purpose for this fluid infusion is to:
a. cause cells to shrink and reduce swelling.
b. move fluid from intravascular space into cells.
c. pull fluid from cells into the intravascular space.
d. expand the body’s intravascular fluid volume.
ANS: D
Fluids that have the same osmolality as normal blood are called isotonic. Intravenous (IV)
solutions are hypertonic, isotonic, or hypotonic. Isotonic solutions such as 0.9% sodium
chloride (same osmolality as normal blood) expand the body’s extracellular fluid volume
without causing water to shift in or out of cells. Infusion of hypertonic intravenous solutions
(more concentrated than normal blood), such as 3% sodium chloride, pulls fluid from cells
by osmosis, causing them to shrink. Physiologically hypotonic solutions (less concentrated
than normal blood after they are infused) move water from the extracellular compartment
into the cells by osmosis, causing them to swell.
PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Understanding (Comprehension)
REF: 465
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
electrolyte, and acid-base balances. TOP: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: NCLEX: Physiological Integrity
4. Two nursing students were having pizza one evening as they were studying. One student
remarked that whenever she ate pizza, she was incredibly thirsty. The second student
explained that this thirst was caused by:
a. colloid osmotic pressure.
b. osmoreceptors.
c. oncotic pressure.
d. hydrostatic pressure.
ANS: B
Thirst, a conscious desire for water, regulates fluid intake when plasma osmolality increases
(osmoreceptor-mediated thirst) or the blood volume decreases (baroreceptor-mediated thirst
and angiotensin II–mediated thirst). The thirst-control mechanism is in the hypothalamus of
the brain. Osmoreceptors there continually monitor plasma osmolality; when osmolality
increases, the hypothalamus stimulates thirst. Colloid osmotic pressure (oncotic pressure) is
an inward-pulling force caused by the presence of protein molecules. Hydrostatic pressure is
the force of a fluid pressing outward against the walls of its container. Thus capillary
hydrostatic pressure is an outward-pushing force.
PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Understanding (Comprehension)
REF: 465 | 466
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
Chapter 18: Fluid, Electrolyte, and Acid-Base Balances
Potter: Essentials for Nursing Practice, 8th Edition
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A nurse is caring for a patient who is suffering from kidney failure and is receiving
peritoneal dialysis. The nurse explains that peritoneal dialysis works by instilling a solution
into the abdomen that contains dextrose that will pull extra fluid into the abdominal cavity.
What is the name of this process?
a. Diffusion
b. Osmosis
c. Filtration
d. Active transport
ANS: B
Osmosis is movement of water across a semipermeable membrane from a compartment of
lower particle concentration to one that has a higher particle concentration. Diffusion is
passive movement of electrolytes or other particles from an area of higher concentration to
an area of lower concentration. In other words, the electrolytes move down their
concentration gradient until the electrolyte concentration is equal in all areas. Electrolytes
cannot diffuse across cell membranes unless the membranes have proteins that serve as ion
channels. Filtration is the net effect of several forces that tend to move fluid across a
membrane. Active transport is the energy-requiring movement of electrolytes or other
substances across cell membranes against their concentration gradient (from an area of low
concentration to an area of higher concentration).
PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Remembering (Knowledge)
REF: 465
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
electrolyte, and acid-base balances. TOP: Nursing Process: Assessment
MSC: NCLEX: Physiological Integrity
2. A patient has been admitted to the postsurgical nursing unit after surgery. The health care
provider has ordered the patient to have an IV of 0.9% sodium chloride. The nurse who is
caring for the patient recognizes this as what type of solution?
a. Hypotonic
b. Isotonic
c. Hypertonic
d. Hypnotic
ANS: B
Fluids that have the same osmolality as normal blood are called isotonic. Intravenous (IV)
solutions are hypertonic, isotonic, or hypotonic. Isotonic solutions such as 0.9% sodium
chloride (same osmolality as normal blood) expand the body’s extracellular fluid volume
without causing water to shift in or out of cells. There is no hypnotic solution.
, PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Remembering (Knowledge)
REF: 465
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
electrolyte, and acid-base balances. TOP: Nursing Process: Assessment
MSC: NCLEX: Physiological Integrity
3. The patient is in a coma after a motor vehicle accident. In addition to IV medications, the
patient is receiving an isotonic IV fluid. The primary purpose for this fluid infusion is to:
a. cause cells to shrink and reduce swelling.
b. move fluid from intravascular space into cells.
c. pull fluid from cells into the intravascular space.
d. expand the body’s intravascular fluid volume.
ANS: D
Fluids that have the same osmolality as normal blood are called isotonic. Intravenous (IV)
solutions are hypertonic, isotonic, or hypotonic. Isotonic solutions such as 0.9% sodium
chloride (same osmolality as normal blood) expand the body’s extracellular fluid volume
without causing water to shift in or out of cells. Infusion of hypertonic intravenous solutions
(more concentrated than normal blood), such as 3% sodium chloride, pulls fluid from cells
by osmosis, causing them to shrink. Physiologically hypotonic solutions (less concentrated
than normal blood after they are infused) move water from the extracellular compartment
into the cells by osmosis, causing them to swell.
PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Understanding (Comprehension)
REF: 465
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
electrolyte, and acid-base balances. TOP: Nursing Process: Planning
MSC: NCLEX: Physiological Integrity
4. Two nursing students were having pizza one evening as they were studying. One student
remarked that whenever she ate pizza, she was incredibly thirsty. The second student
explained that this thirst was caused by:
a. colloid osmotic pressure.
b. osmoreceptors.
c. oncotic pressure.
d. hydrostatic pressure.
ANS: B
Thirst, a conscious desire for water, regulates fluid intake when plasma osmolality increases
(osmoreceptor-mediated thirst) or the blood volume decreases (baroreceptor-mediated thirst
and angiotensin II–mediated thirst). The thirst-control mechanism is in the hypothalamus of
the brain. Osmoreceptors there continually monitor plasma osmolality; when osmolality
increases, the hypothalamus stimulates thirst. Colloid osmotic pressure (oncotic pressure) is
an inward-pulling force caused by the presence of protein molecules. Hydrostatic pressure is
the force of a fluid pressing outward against the walls of its container. Thus capillary
hydrostatic pressure is an outward-pushing force.
PTS: 1 DIF: Cognitive Level: Understanding (Comprehension)
REF: 465 | 466
OBJ: Describe basic physiological mechanisms responsible for maintaining fluid,
