Dry mouth |
The patient is asked to open the mouth and stick out the tongue. Evidence of any apparent dryness, such as dry, sticky mucous membrane, frothy or sticky saliva, or no visible saliva, whitish appearance, or bleeding spots is evaluated. Complement your assessment by questioning the patients about their current perception of dryness in the mouth, comparing it with a condition in which he considers normal moisture in the mouth.
Conclusion: If one or two evaluated conditions were met, the patient has a dry mouth.
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Dry throat |
Ask the patient to open his mouth. Assess the absence of moisture in the distal portion of the mouth with the aid of a flashlight. Complement your assessment by questioning the patients about their current perception of throat dryness, burning sensation, throat discomfort such as “scratching”, compared to a condition in which he considers throat moisture normal.
Conclusion: If the patients have one or more of the evaluated characteristics, they have a dry throat.
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Dry lips |
Inspect the lips, assessing the presence of cracks, scaling, inflammation, bleeding, whitish or reddish coloration, and decreased mobility. Observe if during the evaluation the patient uses the tongue to moisten the lips. Complement your assessment by asking the patients if they feel their lips are dry compared to a condition where the lips are normal.
Conclusion: If the patients have one or more of the evaluated characteristics, they have dry lips.
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Thick saliva |
Inspect the patient’s oral cavity. Observe whether the saliva has a thick appearance, with little fluidity. Complement your assessment by asking the patients if they feel that their saliva is thick, compared to a condition in which their saliva is normal.
Conclusion: If the patients have one or more of the evaluated characteristics, they have thick saliva.
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Thick tongue |
Inspect the appearance of the patient’s tongue. Note if there is visible enlargement of the tongue, erythema, fissures. Complement your assessment by asking the patients if they feel that their tongue is thick compared to a condition where their tongue is normal.
Conclusion: If the patients have one or more of the evaluated characteristics, they have a thick tongue.
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Defining Characteristic |
Operational Definition |
Constant swallowing of saliva |
Observe the swallowing movements. Actions of constant movement of the tongue in search of saliva, followed by an attempt to swallow. Supplement your assessment by asking the patients if they are trying to swallow saliva to moisten their throat.
Conclusion: If the patients have one or more of the evaluated characteristics, they have constant swallowing of saliva.
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Desire to drink water |
Patient verbalizes the desire to drink water. Ask the patient if he feels like drinking water.
Conclusion: If the patient responds affirmatively, consider this feature to be present.
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Bad taste in the mouth |
Ask the patient if he has a bad taste in his mouth.
Conclusion: If the patient responds affirmatively, consider this feature to be present.
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Caregiver’s report |
The caregiver reports that the patient has signs that indicate that he is thirsty. Ask the caregiver or family member about the presence of signs that indicate that the patient is thirsty.
Conclusion: If the caregiver answers in the affirmative, consider this characteristic to be present. Additionally, write down what characteristics he observed.
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Related Factor |
Operational Definition |
Pre- and post-operative fasting |
Evaluate the time the patient has been without ingesting solid foods and liquids. Ask the patient when his last intake of solid food and liquids was. |
Oral breathing |
Ask the patient to take a deep breath and watch for mouth breathing. He may have his mouth slightly open while breathing. Check for nasal obstruction. |
Dehydration |
Note the presence of dry mucous membranes, decreased salivary flow, decreased skin turgor, decreased urinary frequency.
- Dry mucous membranes: The patient is asked to open his mouth and stick out his tongue. Evidence of any apparent dryness, such as dry, sticky mucosa, frothy or sticky saliva, or absence of visible saliva, is evaluated. To complement the assessment, the patient should be asked about his current perception of dryness in the mouth, comparing it with a condition in which he considers that the moisture in the mouth is normal.
- Skin turgor: Make a fold on the back of the patient’s hand and observe the formation and maintenance of a skin fold. If the fold continues after the evaluator’s hand is removed, it is deduced that the skin turgor is reduced.
- Evaluate fasting time
- Water balance, if any
- Assess blood loss
- Water replacement
In children
Observe signs of dehydration in the child, such as: fatigue, dry mucous membranes, dry lips, return of the abdominal skinfold for more than 2 seconds, crying without tears, irritability, sunken eyes. Note fontanelles. Ask the caregiver about changes in the child related to dehydration (skin turgor, fontanelles, general aspects).
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Insensible loss of moisture from respiration |
In the postoperative period: Evaluate the inhalational anesthetic procedure and the use of oxygen supplementation by nasal catheter or mask without humidification. |
Hypovolemia |
Evaluate the description of bleeding during the surgical procedure or in the postoperative period. Check for hypotension, sweating, tachycardia, and other signs of shock.
Anesthetic procedure: Use of spinal anesthesia results in vasodilation caused by sympathetic blockade. Agents employed in general anesthesia initially decrease the body’s ability to perform vasoconstriction. Write down which anesthetic procedure was used.
Hypotension: Check blood pressure. Compare the current pressure with the preoperative baseline pressure: if it is 20% lower than the baseline pressure, the patient can be considered hypotensive.
Heart rate: Check heart rate by palpating and counting the radial pulse. The patient will be tachycardic if the observed value is equal to or greater than 100 beats per minute.
Blood loss: Check the documents that report the intraoperative period for the description of the bleeding: small, medium or large? Check the appearance of the dressing.
Sweating: Check for sweating.
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Dry mouth |
Evaluation of the oral cavity. The patient is asked to open the mouth and stick out the tongue. Evidence of any apparent dryness, such as dry, sticky mucous membrane, frothy or sticky saliva, or no visible saliva, whitish appearance, or bleeding spots is evaluated. Complement your evaluation by questioning the patient about his current perception of dryness in the mouth, comparing it with a condition in which he considers normal moisture in the mouth.
Conclusion: If one or two evaluated conditions were met, the patient has a dry mouth.
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Habit of drinking water |
Ask the patient how many times a day they usually drink fluids and in what quantity, supplementing with the information below:
- Frequency of consumption:
- Consumption/beverage preference:
- Period of the day of greatest consumption:
- Temperature preference:
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High ambient temperature |
Measure the ambient temperature. Ask if he’s hot. |
Associated Conditions |
Operational Definition |
Intubation |
Assess whether there was endotracheal intubation during the anesthetic procedure.
Was there orotracheal intubation?
What is the duration of the anesthetic procedure?
- Beginning of the anesthetic procedure:
- End of the anesthetic procedure:
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Water restriction |
Evaluate the existence of restriction of intake or infusion of liquids according to the patient’s report or in the medical record. Evaluate in the medical record or the patient’s report the existence of restriction of fluid intake or infusion. |
Use of muscarinic and nicotinic anticholinergics |
Assess whether anticholinergics were used during the anesthetic-surgical procedure.
Anticholinergic drugs: atropine, biperiden, benactizine, buscopan, dicyclomine, homatropine, ipratropium, trihexaphenid, tropicamide
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