Anticoagulants
A nurse has a patient on anticoagulants. What is important?
Getting Vital Signs
Getting Baseline prothrombin time (PT)
Monitoring PT levels
Monitoring international normalized ratio (INR)
Monitor liver function
A patient comes in with Warfarin overdose, what does a nurse do?
Discontinue Warfarin administration
Administer vitamin K
K1 given IV in small doses
If K1 is not helping mange the bleeding you can administer fresh frozen plasma or whole blood.
International normalized ratio (INR) shows the prothrombin time.
INR of 1.1 or less for normal people
INR of 2.0 to 3.0 for people taking warfarin for certain medical conditions.
INR of 3 to 4.5 expected for recurrent systemic embolism or mechanical heart valve