Nursing care process for an older adult with urinary tract-related septic shock and diabetic ketoacidosis
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20453/renh.v19i1.7891Keywords:
nursing process, septic shock, diabetic ketoacidosis, older adult, hypernatremiaAbstract
This report presents the nursing care process applied to a 93-year-old male patient hospitalized for septic shock of urinary origin and diabetic ketoacidosis. The elderly patient exhibited severe abnormalities in nutritional-metabolic, excretory, and cognitive-perceptual patterns, as well as a high risk of sepsis and impaired skin integrity. Laboratory findings revealed leukocyturia, severe hypernatremia, hyperglycemia, and severe metabolic acidosis. The nursing diagnosis “fluid volume deficit” was prioritized. Management involved fluid and electrolyte replacement, monitoring of vital signs, and monitoring of urine output, blood glucose levels, and arterial blood gases. During the implementation phase, antibiotic therapy and controlled fluid therapy were administered. During the evaluation phase, blood glucose levels showed a favorable trend; however, hyperthermia persisted due to the complexity of the clinical picture and the patient’s biological fragility, so the prognosis remained guarded.
Downloads
References
Ugalde F, Rivera H, Obando SN. Infección urinaria en el adulto mayor. Rev Méd Sinergia. 2022;7(8):e888. doi:10.31434/rms.v7i8.888
Pérez N, Corcuera J, Cruz-Jentoft AJ. Protocolo diagnóstico y terapéutico de la infección urinaria en el paciente mayor. Medicine. 2022;13(62):3682-5. doi:10.1016/j.med.2022.08.013
García RC, Dominguez GM, Chavez EA, et al. Etiología y resistencia bacteriana en infecciones urinarias de pacientes con cetoacidosis diabética. Ciencia Latina Rev Cient Multidiscipl. 2025;9(6):8256-67. doi:10.37811/cl_rcm.v9i6.21956
Organización Mundial de la Salud. Década del envejecimiento saludable 2021-2030 [Internet]. OMS; [s. f.]. Disponible en: https://www.who.int/es/initiatives/decade-of-healthy-ageing
Ahmad R, Narwaria M, Singh A, et al. Detecting diabetic ketoacidosis with infection: combating a life-threatening emergency with practical diagnostic tools. Diagnostics. 2023;13(14):2441. doi:10.3390/diagnostics13142441
Aziz U, Memon RR, Khuhro MM, et al. Long-term trends in sepsis mortality among older U.S. adults with chronic kidney disease, 1999-2023. ASIDE J Intern Med. 2026; 2(6). doi:10.71079/ASIDE.IM.030526287
Zheng H, Yu F, Bei C, et al. Diabetes mellitus and mortality in patients admitted to ICU with sepsis: a meta-analysis. Front Med. 2026;13:1743706. doi:10.3389/fmed.2026.1743706
Pannu AK, Kiran R, Kumar A, et al. Comparative study of diabetic ketoacidosis in the elderly and non-elderly patients: A nine-year experience from an academic hospital in North India. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2023;17(12):102903. doi:10.1016/j.dsx.2023.102903
Ishimaru N, Shimokawa T, Nakajima T, et al. Bacteremia in patients with diabetic ketoacidosis: a cross-sectional study. Hosp Pract. 2023;51(2):95-100. doi:10.1080/21548331.2023.2189369
Ticse R, Alán-Peinado A, Baiocchi-Castro L. Características demográficas y epidemiológicas de pacientes con diabetes mellitus tipo 2 hospitalizados por cetoacidosis diabética en un hospital general de Lima-Perú. Rev Méd Hered. 2014;25(1):5-12. doi:10.20453/rmh.v25i1.259
Ahmad R, Narwaria M, Singh A, et al. Detecting diabetic ketoacidosis with infection: combating a life-threatening emergency with practical diagnostic tools. Diagnostics. 2023;13(14):2441. doi:10.3390/diagnostics13142441
Quevedo GA, Pachay J. Prevalencia de infecciones del tracto urinario y factores de riesgo en adultos de Latinoamérica. FIPCAEC [Internet]. 2022;7(4):1382-400. Disponible en: https://ftp.polodelconocimiento.com/index.php/fipcaec/article/view/689
Pineda IJ, Chalán LE, Londo AL, et al. Diagnóstico y tratamiento del shock séptico en adultos: una revisión actualizada. Cienc Refl. 2025;4(1):1301-33. doi:10.70747/cr.v4i1.187
Gordon M. Manual de diagnósticos enfermeros. 10.a ed. Madrid: Elsevier; 2003.
NANDA International. Diagnósticos enfermeros: definiciones y clasificación 2024-2026. 13.a ed. Barcelona: Elsevier; 2024.
Moorhead S, Swanson E, Johnson M. Clasificación de resultados de enfermería (NOC). 7.a ed. Barcelona: Elsevier; 2023.
Butcher H, Bulechek G, Dochterman J, et al. Clasificación de intervenciones de enfermería (NIC). 7.a ed. Barcelona: Elsevier; 2018.
Patlolla SR, Devara J, Ameer MA, et al. Euglycemic diabetic ketoacidosis in a patient with urinary tract infection. Cureus. 2023;15(7):e42594. doi:10.7759/cureus.42594
Alfaro-LeFevre R. Pensamiento crítico, razonamiento clínico y juicio clínico en enfermería: un enfoque práctico. 7.a ed. Barcelona: Elsevier; 2021.
Evans L, Rhodes A, Alhazzani W, et al. Surviving sepsis campaign: international guidelines for management of sepsis and septic shock 2021. Intensive Care Med. 2021;47(11):1181-247. doi:10.1007/s00134-021-06506-y
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Diana Cristina Rojas Aira, Roxana Obando Zegarra, Carlos Christian Melgar Morán

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
All articles published in the Revista Enfermeria Herediana are under a Creative Commons Reconocimiento 4.0 International license.
The authors retain the copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work registered with the Creative Commons License, which allows third parties to use what is published whenever they mention the authorship of the work, and to the first publication in this magazine.
Authors can make other independent and additional contractual agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version published in this journal, provided they clearly indicate that the work was published in this journal.
The authors can file in the repository of their institution:
The research work or thesis of degree from which the published article derives.
The pre-print version: the version prior to peer review.
The Post-print version: final version after peer review.
The definitive version or final version created by the publisher for publication.









2.png)



