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