Medical Errors – Don’t Use Pure Water Intravenously

I created this mini case study from a story about a patient given sterile water instead of saline in an intravenous drip solution. Students should probably have a learned about tonicity (hypertonic, hypotonic, and isotonic) before attempting this activity. I plan to use it with the lesson on the cell membrane and osmoregulation.

The worksheet describes a scenario where a patient was hyperglycemic and the doctor ordered water be administered, which was interpreted to mean administered intravenously. The short reading passage includes several related vocabulary words: tonicity, hemolysis, infusion.

Students then answer a series of questions related to the case and their understanding of osmosis. The worksheet is designed for distance learning, with text boxes after the questions to indicate where students should answer the questions. The document can be shared through google classroom or other platforms. The downloadable pdf document has been created as a form, so students can fill in the answers there.

I plan to use this with my anatomy and physiology class, but it could work with general biology or even AP biology. Some of the questions might be challenging for younger students, but as with any document I share, you are welcome to modify the text.

HS-LS1-2 Develop and use a model to illustrate the hierarchical organization of interacting systems that provide specific functions within multicellular organisms

Leave a Reply