cardiomyopathy with ef of 10%

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  1. by May 30, '09
    Hey guys,
    Anyone awake. I'm at work and have a patient with tachycardia and a EF of 10%. Coreg ordered with iv lasix. Due to SBP in 90s and knowing that I need to give coreg, I called on call resident to see where to go from there. Resident said to give the 40mg iv lasix. I am definitely concerned due to potential of drying patient out. BUN is definitely on a downward trend from previously and creatinine is also on a downward trend. Will be giving the IV lasix and watching but definitely concerned due to experiences thus far with the residents knowledge base. Not used to working in teaching facility. Let me know what you think.
    lindarn likes this.
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  4. 15 Comments so far...

  5. May 30, '09 by
    Not enough info. What's the rhythm? Is the pt. symptomatic? How much Coreg? Is Coreg new for them? Any peripheral edema? Lung sounds?
    flightnurse2b and Roy Fokker like this.
  6. May 30, '09 by
    I would be very careful giving coreg and lasixs with a bp in the 90's.
  7. Guide
    May 30, '09 by
    How old is this person. Are they on a transplant list? I never had a person with EF that low. I wouldn't think they would live long no matter what kind of treatment they got.
    flightnurse2b and lindarn like this.
  8. May 30, '09 by
    An EF of 10%?

    I have dozens of questions to ask before I can answer yours...

    cheers,
  9. May 30, '09 by
    I agree with Roy lots of questions.

    I do know, when we had a pt with a similar EF of around 15% or so, the pt was on the transplant list, and we had orders to administer his meds even if his SBP was in the 90's. The guy was walking around with his SBP in the low to mid 80's most of the time. Sometimes even lower.

    How much edema does the pt have and where ? What do the lung sound like? What is the baseline BP for the pt, and is he symptomatic?
    bluesnurse likes this.
  10. May 30, '09 by
    Not enough info to go on in this situation.

    However, I have had to take care of many patients over the last five years with EFs less than 20%. In general, with those patients, we gave the meds and then bit our nails as we monitored their pressures. Many of them sat with SBPs in 80-90's as a rule due to all of the meds they had to be on.

    I've had several who we've had to use dobutamine with instead of Lasix, or switch to Natrecor instead.
  11. May 30, '09 by
    We give lasix to this type of patient all the time... that being said, we also have a Pyxis full of all types of albumin

    As for the Coreg - yes. I have never held Coreg, even for pressures in the 80s.
  12. May 31, '09 by
    I would have to see and assess the patient for myself before I could make a comment.
  13. Jun 2, '09 by
    Just wondering what happend to the patient?