Which findings will the interprofessional health care team focus on?

In response to a patient being admitted to the ICU (intensive care unit) who has been diagnosed with Addisonian crisis, medical health care interprofessionals will focus on signs of hypotension and hyperkalemia. Hypotension is the medical term for having low blood pressure. Hypotension occurs when vascular tone is decreased and blood vessels cannot respond to epinephrine and norepinephrine.

One of the things affected by this disease is that endogenous cortisol, which is supposed to enhance vascular response to epinephrine and norepinephrine, does not work properly. The role of the main culprit for this disease, aldosterone, is to equalize blood pressure by holding salt and water and giving the body potassium. When a patient cannot retain water and salt, potassium increases which leads to hypotension and hyperkalemia.

Hypotension.
Hyperkalemia.

In Addisons disease, also known as adrenal insufficiency, destruction of the adrenal gland leads to decreased production of adrenocortical hormones, including the gluco- corticoid cortisol and the mineralocorticoid aldosterone. Addi- sonian crisis, also known as acute adrenal insufficiency, occurs when there is extreme physical or emotional stress and lack of sufficient adrenocortical hormones to manage the stressor. Addisonian crisis is a life-threatening emergency. One of the roles of endogenous cortisol is to enhance vascular tone and vascular response to the catecholamines epinephrine and norepinephrine. Hypotension occurs when vascular tone is decreased and blood vessels cannot respond to epinephrine and norepinephrine. The role of aldosterone in the body is to support the blood pressure by holding salt and water and excreting potassium. When there is insufficient aldosterone, salt and water are lost and potassium builds up; this leads to hypotension from decreased vascular volume, hyponatremia, and hyperkalemia. The remaining options are not associated with addisonian crisis.