NUR 290 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Hypovolemia, Septic Shock, Vascular Permeability
Document Summary
It occurs when there is low fluid volume in the intravascular system. The intravascular system is the space that contains the volume of blood in a person"s circulatory system. If the amount of blood the heart pumps to the organ/tissues decreases, the cardiac output decreases. This will lead to decreased tissue perfusion, which will alter the function of cells. It will limit their access to oxygen and signs and symptoms of shock will occur. A person needs to lose about 15% or more of their intravascular volume for hypovolemic shock to occur. The average human blood volume is 5 l (exact amount depends on the person"s size). So, if a person who has a blood volume of 5 l and loses 1 l of blood volume (1,000 ml), that would be 20% of their blood volume. This person would start showing signs and symptoms of hypovolemic shock.
