hgb 3.3 stable?

tridil2000, MSN, RN · Jul 28, 2006

Ok you med/surg nurses! I recieve report about a pt that was going to be transferd to me from IMC. DX: GI bleed. Report was that the pt is stable.
Upone recieving the pt I looked at todays lab H/H was 3.3/10 Stable!!!
Has anyone else had an equal to or lower lab value with the title of stable with it? Im not talking to the ER nurse. Im sure they have seen it all. im taking to the med/surg floor nure that takes care of the pt that are suppose to be med/surg criteria not ICU criteria!

was she asymptomatic? no cp, no sob, no tachycardia, decent bp?n ws her source identified?

was she coming from imcu (tele)?

i have seen a hg of 3 myself and they need a monitored bed. they may be asymptomatic, but i would call that 'guarded' condition, not stable.

ILUVMYCUBS · Jul 28, 2006

Yes! asymptomatic, just a little tire. came with tele no funky readings. pt dId have a pacemaker. I gave 4 units of PRBC on my shift. I wounder if it was chronic and the body adaped to the low H/H. They say are body does what it takes to survive. Source of bleeding not identified. They just needed tool a stabe in the dark called it GI.

unikuelady, RN · Jul 28, 2006

I once cared for a postpartum mother with a HGB of 2.9 totaly asymptomatic. Discovered she had chronic anemia from a spleenectomy. Pt refused blood transfusion due to religion. pt did very well.

jmgrn65, RN · Jul 28, 2006

NO that is not stable hopefully you will be giving blood now, are they actively bleeding, I personally would want them in ICU they need blood fast. That is not conducive to life.

I am very suprised that the above patient did well with 2.9.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jul 28, 2006

At that moment in time they were stable as they were asymtomatic, which might have been what this nurse meant, but definately not hemodynamically stable. My guess is they would need more monitoring than med-surg could provide because they are teetering on the edge of a cliff and could crash at any moment.

TiffyRN, BSN, PhD · Jul 28, 2006

As Tweety said, with H/H that low they are always on the edge of crashing, needing the least little thing to tip them over the edge.

I took care of a patient that presented to the ER "dizzy", H/H 1 & 5, seriously! Chronic anemia of course. She got transfused but her HCT hung around 27-30.

But if your patient had a hemoglogin that low and needed 4 units blood and they still didn't know where the blood was going; that isn't stable.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jul 28, 2006

The lowest I recall was in the 5 range. That was in a person with sickle cell crisis, and she was a&o but in severe pain. We were forever getting her blood because of so many antibodies.

Is there newer info as I am not working at the present?