Follow us
Log in
Much of the content on our site is available to our registered users only. If you're already registered, just click the 'Log in' button then enter your email address and password.
Register
If you're not already registered on the site, you'll need to do so in order to gain unrestricted access to all our content. There are two types of registration:
1. If you're a current subscriber, you can register for access to our protected content at no additional cost. You'll need your subscription number in order to complete your registration, which is on the polythene wrapper in which your journal is delivered. Click the Register button to begin your registration.
2. If you don't currently subscribe you can do so now by taking out a secure online subscription. Not only will this give you instant access to our protected online content, but you'll also get every issue of Nursing Standard - the UK's best selling nursing journal - delivered straight to your door. Click the Register button to begin your subscription and registration.
Diagnosis and treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis
Author: Val Wilson
Date: November 2012
Journal: Emergency Nurse
Issue: Volume 20, Number 7
Keywords: Diabetic ketoacidosis, diabetes, infusion, education
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is an acute and serious metabolic complication of type 1 diabetes. Caused by severe insulin deficiency leading to hyperglycaemia, DKA is the most common cause of mortality in people with type 1 diabetes under the age of 40. It causes nausea and vomiting, hypothermia, hypotension, cardiac arrhythmia, tachycardia, deep and rapid breathing and, if untreated, can lead to cerebral oedema, coma and death. The survival of patients with DKA can depend, therefore, on the ability of emergency nurses to recognise its signs and symptoms. The most urgent treatment outcomes in emergency settings are the reversal of ketosis and hyperglycaemia, and the prevention of hypokalaemia and hyponatraemia, and these should be followed by hourly biochemical tests to determine treatment alterations. This article describes DKA and how patients with the condition usually present, and outlines its treatment by emergency nurses.
Registered users
If you're a current subscriber, and have already registered with us, please log in.
Current subscribers
Current subscribers can register for access to our protected content at no additional cost.
Non-subscribers
Take out a secure online subscription and gain instant access to our protected content.
Search tips
Focus your results by wrapping search phrases in quotation marks. For example, search "child health" to return results containing that exact phrase.
The RCN Publishing Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Royal College of Nursing, the world's largest organisation for nurses. RCN Publishing produces one weekly, eight monthly and two quarterly nursing publications. Nursing Standard, the flagship journal, is the UK's biggest selling weekly for nursing. It is produced by RCN Publishing Company along with a suite of specialist nursing journals - Cancer Nursing Practice, Mental Health Practice, Learning Disability Practice, Nursing Children and Young People, Nursing Management, Emergency Nurse, Nursing Older People, Nurse Researcher and Primary Health Care. RCN Publishing Company also produce the RCN Bulletin, a major source of up-to-the-minute information for RCN members in all specialities, grades and working environments. With the latest nurse vacancies from trusts nationwide, it has become the most cost-effective nurse recruitment magazine available.