PCA and PTT

[RNmaria]

Hello!

Could someone tell me the significance of monitoring a patient's PTT while on a PCA?

pasha :-)

[RN1989]

There must be something else going on with this pt. I've never heard of any connection between a PCA and need to monitor PTT.

[RNmaria]

Opps...sorry it was the INR

[RN1989]

PT and INR have no connection to a PCA. This pt has other things going on, either clotting issues (too much or not enough) or is on anticoags and the doc is trying to get an INR into a therapeutic range.

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

Agree with above poster. Is patient on IV Heparin?

[RNmaria]

First of all thank you for your reply!

This pt had a AAA repair and they wanted to pull the PCA when the INR was at a therapeutic level...

It wan't until after I posted that I finally made the connection...thank you for all of your help!

pasha :-)

[cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN]

Was it an epidural?

[RN1989]

A PCA would have nothing to do with waiting for an INR level before "pulling" it unless it was a PCEA (pt controlled EPIDURAL analgesia) which was not specified in your post.

A PCA and a PCEA are very different in their care and protocols. Your latest post leads me to believe that it was a PCEA as you would not want to pull an epidural line out of someone and risk an epidural space bleed if they had pulled the line out with a high bleeding time.

I hope you have researched this and have learned the differences, indications, contraindications etc. as it sounds like you do not have much much experience with this.

[RNmaria]

Thank you!

pasha :-)