Recently, I took care of a patient post-cardiac cath. Patient had groin site in addition to TR band. No interventions were done because of the amount of blockage, so the cardiologist wanted to try again using a different approach via the popliteal artery. Patient was still on bed rest when I came on shift.
Early that evening, a doctor calls me and said they were putting in orders for a heparin gtt to be started at 2200. I questioned it because no interventions were done AND the patient's platelets were already low (@ 65) and all they said was "it is a therapeutic dose."
The patient couldn't keep their leg straight, so there was some bleeding at the site. VSS, site was soft, CMS checks were at baseline. I notified the cardiologist, who stated the bleeding was fine, and stated he still wanted the patient on the heparin gtt
So I start the gtt per protocol. I kept a watchful eye on that patient. No changes. AM labs were drawn, heparin assay was therapeutic so I didn't have to make any changes, but the platelets were now @ 50. I remember reading the cardiologist's procedure report stating that if plts
Again, no more bleeding from site, CMS checks at baseline, VSS. I documented everything the docs said verbatim. I'm not even sure what happened after I left because for whatever reason the patient was transferred to med-surg, still on the gtt (because it was before 1200).
Did their rationale make sense to you? Because it didn't make any sense to me, and I thought there could have been a potential for adverse effects. Someone help me understand because the docs just kind of brushed it off!
