Now THAT'S a lab result

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Jul 20, 2016

Possibly a comfort care patient

Except a comfort care patient wouldn't be in an ICU bed.

Sun0408, ASN, RN · Jul 20, 2016

Except a comfort care patient wouldn't be in an ICU bed.

We have CC only pts in the ICU. We withdraw care a lot but sometimes there are no beds to move the pt to or it's late at night so we just keep them

guest769224 · Jul 20, 2016

We have CC only pts in the ICU. We withdraw care a lot but sometimes there are no beds to move the pt to or it's late at night so we just keep them

Same with my ICU.

blondy2061h, MSN, RN · Jul 20, 2016

Except a comfort care patient wouldn't be in an ICU bed.

Our ICU has comfort care patients all the time. If they're transitioned to comfort care when they're in their unit already we don't move them out unless we truly desperately need the bed. Terminal weans happen they're, and their probably the only patients on comfort care you would see a BP on because we don't usual get blood pressures on comfort care patients (unless family requests), but sometimes terminal wean patients still have a functioning a line.

d'cm · Jul 21, 2016

CK >200,000. Her pee was a little brown. We never figured out why. It was still like 1200 when we discharged her.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2016

Our ICU has comfort care patients all the time. If they're transitioned to comfort care when they're in their unit already we don't move them out unless we truly desperately need the bed. Terminal weans happen they're, and their probably the only patients on comfort care you would see a BP on because we don't usual get blood pressures on comfort care patients (unless family requests), but sometimes terminal wean patients still have a functioning a line.

You're right, it's been so long since I worked a floor, I forgot that transfers can take awhile, and the comfort measures would be initiated immediately, whether the patient was being moved then or not. My apologies.

Lev, MSN, RN, NP · Aug 9, 2016

Potassium 7.9. Alive.

Lev, MSN, RN, NP · Oct 31, 2016

I've got a new record. Temp 107.9 (42.2) rectal, alive and not seizing!

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · Oct 31, 2016

K: 2.0. Alive. Eating disorder. A few days of not purging and PO K+ fixed that.

BG: 29. Alive and on the phone chatting coherently. And yes, I repeated the test to be sure. Fixed with lots of juice and a sandwich.

BAL: 545. Alive and breathing but incoherent as hell. They had to be medically admitted and stabilized (took 3 days) before they came to the psych ward.

brillohead, ADN, RN · Oct 31, 2016

TSH of 41. Alive.

Nepenthe Sea · Dec 12, 2016

In adults, I saw an ammonia of 300+. The guy had a bad liver and the doctors had been trying to get him on a transplant list forever, and he and his family kept declining. He finally agreed to it, and of course, he was supposed to be transported the next morning to a hospital to begin the process. He had a decline in mentation sometime in the night, so we checked his labs and gave lactulose, and that's when we got the ammonia level. He went off to ICU and after that, I don't know what happened. Also saw a hgb of 4 in a woman who insisted on walking herself to the bathroom even though she felt dizzy. I thought that hgb was low until...

...I went to work in PICU, where I take care of chemo kids. I have seen a 2.9 and most recently, 2.7 hgb. 2.7 was a new diagnosis, the 2.9 was an established ALL. Also saw a new diagnosis AML that had a crazy WBC. I don't remember what the number was, but his blood was almost pink and had a white layer in it. We kept a tube of it in a bio baggie for a bit so all the nurses could see it. He had to have leukapheresis for several days to get it down to a more manageable number.

Had a patient in our unit with sodium of 101. She is a young chronic adult who came to us after her sodium dropped while on an adult floor.

Also, not a lab, but something of interest. Had a toddler breathing over 100 breaths per minute. I don't remember what his underlying chronic condition was, but his nurse counted it, and asked me to count it. We counted for a full minute, had the charge nurse and RT come in and verify the same. When we called the intensivist, she said it wasn't possible to breathe that fast. Well, I am here to tell you that it is!

Nepenthe Sea · Dec 12, 2016

Oh yeah, and recently had a newborn come to our unit in severe CHF, and pulmonary hypertension (I can't remember what heart condition she had - we are a small regional unit and ship cardiac kids off). Her BNP was over 5,000. Don't remember what the cardiac enzyme numbers were, but greatly elevated.