chest pain and sleeping

[Ms.RN]

okay

my patient c/o chest pain, gave him nitroquick x1. i went back to his room 5 minutes later to reassess him, and he was lying in bed sleeping comfortable. my question is, is it possible to fall asleep if a person is having a chest pain or is it related to fatigue?

[Tait, MSN, RN]

Nitro-quick does just that, works fast. However I would have woken him up and double checked. Mainly because in our hospital protocol is if not at ZERO/10 after up to three Nitro's, stat EKG and MD call. (I work on cardiac floor).

With that zero tolerance for chest pain, I would want to make sure my patient wasn't tolerating a 1 or 2 and still able to nod off. When it comes to hearts I don't take chances.

Tait

PS. Also due to Nitro's amazing vasodilation effects, BP can be an issue after each tab as well. I guess I would have been a little surprised the patient was souns asleep, unless they were one of the growing many on their third or fourth or more MI.