Is aspirin a blood thinner?

Nurses Medications

Published

When asking a patient if they're on blood thinners... does taking a daily baby 'aspirin' count? Thank you in advance

In surgery we do NOT consider it a blood thinner although it does need to be d/c'd some days before surgery in MOST cases.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in retired LTC.

Just FYI, NSAIDS also have an anticoag effect. So if you're screening for THAT effect, as about NSAIDS too.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).

Technically speaking ASA is a platelet aggregation inhibitor which means it makes the blood less sticky not thinner. I wish we started really educating patients instead of dumbing things down .

Hppy

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

ASA is NOT a "blood thinner"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
ASA is NOT a "blood thinner"

My understanding has always been that the term "blood thinner" refers to anticoagulants.

After seeing so many people with RN attatched to their name say otherwise, I checked with Dr Google.

Is aspirin a blood thinner?

"Aspirin thins your blood, which helps to prevent blood clots in your arteries"

"Now studies show that because aspirin thins the blood, it can also help to lower the chances of a heart attack or a stroke caused by a blood clot in the brain."

It is easy enough to find multiple sources, including the FDA, who refer to ASA as a blood thinner.

I think that frequent misuse of the term has made it ambiguous. In most cases, if you need to know whether somebody is on "blood thinners", you probably also want to know whether they are on an antiplatelet drug as well. In fact, I am hard pressed to think of a situation in which you are asking these questions, and you don't need a complete and accurate med list.

In answer to the OP, I am going to give a fairly confident no. Aspirin is not a blood thinner.

But a better question would be, "does it make sense for me to use that question as some kind of screening tool?"

Definitely not.

The term is ambiguous, and not even uniformly understood by nurses.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

It is easy enough to find multiple sources, including the FDA, who refer to ASA as a blood thinner.

The term is ambiguous, and not even uniformly understood by nurses.

Clear as mud huh? The irony is that neither antiplatelets or anticogaulants actually do any "thinning". It would be interesting to see a poll but I would wager for most clinicians "blood thinners" are anticoagulants. There are many times I want to know if a patient is on an anticoagulant but I don't care as much if they are on an antiplatlet (but I would always be specific).

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I've heard a cardiologist in talking to a patient refer to aspirin as a "mild blood thinner."

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

I took a poll at lunchtime: 5 providers

Everyone was very confident about their answer and the scoring was 3 no and 2 yes. I was shocked!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Pediatric Critical Care.
When asking a patient if they're on blood thinners... does taking a daily baby 'aspirin' count?

Well, its a platelet aggregation inhibitor, like hppygr8fu said. But really, my answer to you depends on why you are asking?

Are you a patient asking if you should mention your baby aspirin when asked about blood thinners?

Yes.

Are you a nursing student learning pharmacology?

ASA doesn't "thin" the blood, it helps keep platelets from clotting.

Are you a nurse who is trying to figure out what question to ask a patient when taking a medication history?

Like others have said, I would ask them if they take ANY medicines and then go from there. Asking about blood thinners can cause confusion, as many others have stated.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Yes it "counts", its a medication, even it doesnt seem like much.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Don't ask patients if they are taking blood thinners. The same way you don't ask patients if they are taking ACE inhibitors or beta blockers.

Ask some variation of what pills they take daily, and what pills they take when needed such as Tylenol, advil, aspirin, etc.

My husband for the life of him can't remember that acetaminophen is Tylenol, and that it's not the same as Advil. You'd get crazy answers from him. I think he sometimes takes asprin when his back is bothering him but half the time I can't figure out what he's taken.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in LTC.

Yes, it is.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment