Shock is a symptom not a disease

There are some very common errors when treating shock. The most common error is that shock is the presence of hypotension (low blood pressure). Not true. Shock occurs when there is inadequate oxygen delivery to vital organs such as the heart brain or kidney. Shock can occur with a normal blood pressure. In fact, the presence of a low blood pressure or rapid heart rate are considered LATE signs of shock. The other important consideration is that shock is only a symptom of a much bigger problem. A provider wants to treat the cause of shock not just the symptom of shock, eg. hypotension. If a patient has a low blood pressure from dehydration secondary to diabetic ketoacidosis, starting dopamine will increase the blood pressure, but it will actually DECREASE the blood flow and oxygen delivery to the vital organs. Said another way, the blood pressure will go up but the shock will be worse. In that case you need to treat the blood sugar and replace the fluids from the dehydration.

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