a patient has O2 sat= 100% and we dont think they're hypoxic.. but then the tissues have 5g/100ml=tissue hypoxia.. so what? why is this important?'
my professor gave us an example btw three patients. all the pts have O2 sat of 100%.. the only difference is the Hgb.
pt 1 has Hgb of 5g/100ml
pt2 2 Hgb of 10g/100ml.
pt 3 has 15g/100ml she wanted to show how a patient with Hgb of 15 has more blood cells to be saturated with O2. a patient may have O2 sat=100%, but the patient w/ 5g/100ml does not have enough blood cells compared with the pt with 15g/100ml. so there's just a lot of oxygen in the body that is not being carried by red blood cells.
what happens to that excess oxygen not being picked up by RBCs? what will the patient look like if have only 5g/100ml of Hgb? they will be cyanotic?
what is the priority intervention for a person with cyanosis?
Long time smokers and/or people with cardiomegaly and copd will sometimes have a high Hbg. This is because over time their body produces more RBC's -- the ones they have are not carrying enough oxygen so the body produces more. Until they get acutely ill and are losing blood somewhere.... they will have a high H & H.
Sounds like this hypothetical patient has been mountaing climbing in a very high altitude!!
BTW, the questions the poster is asking are the same as she would ask the professor. Only here she gets lots of experienced feedback. I'm not seeing what is wrong with her asking experienced nurses. When this person graduates and begins working in a clinical arena and has questions, I certainly hope her experienced co-workers don't push her away instead of helping her. When I was in college 10,000 years ago, there was no Internet, hence no forums to explore. What a marvelous avenue something like this would've been for my classmates and me! I don't get the impression the poster is trying to get anyone here to do her homework at all. It seems like she is seeking information and understanding. Seems a shame she may be discouraged to look to more experienced nurses for guidance and knowledge in the future. Personally, I just love students and new nurses and enjoy precepting them. They really make me think, too!
mashamontago, when I was a new nurse I came to realize that those who did not want to answer my questions didn't know the answers. I'm just saying.
BTW, the questions the poster is asking are the same as she would ask the professor. Only here she gets lots of experienced feedback. I'm not seeing what is wrong with her asking experienced nurses. When this person graduates and begins working in a clinical arena and has questions, I certainly hope her experienced co-workers don't push her away instead of helping her. When I was in college 10,000 years ago, there was no Internet, hence no forums to explore. What a marvelous avenue something like this would've been for my classmates and me! I don't get the impression the poster is trying to get anyone here to do her homework at all. It seems like she is seeking information and understanding. Seems a shame she may be discouraged to look to more experienced nurses for guidance and knowledge in the future. Personally, I just love students and new nurses and enjoy precepting them. They really make me think, too!
mashamontago, when I was a new nurse I came to realize that those who did not want to answer my questions didn't know the answers. I'm just saying.
I can't help but think this post is directed at me. If you take a look this poster has 8 threads with what are clearly homework questions. Not only that but she never rejoins the conversation or asks any questions on her own that indicates she is grasping the concepts. She has posted before that she has marginal grades and is barely passing. Your insinuation that I am not knowledgable about the physiologic processes posed here is not only extremely rude but also way off base. Maybe you should check out my experience and the types of jobs I have had or perhaps try to get to know me before you make judgements that are not only unkind but also untrue. I'm just saying.
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
Remember that your oxygen saturation measures the % of saturation in the blood that is present in the circulatory system. How much is binding to the Hgb that is present in the blood. It does not go down just because your H&H is low.
As most of you nurses know......This situation is quite common in our sickle cell population, only they also present in extreme pain. Also depending on how bad the crisis is you may not just give blood. If they "live" with a hg of 6-7 and they are now 5 it is more of a sickle problem....
Just another reason the fully look at your pts history....
Bobbi:D
I was just going to mention this. Currently on my unit is a patient with a Hbg of 5.1. The doc only transfuses when less than 5.0.
.thumb.gif.11fa0ddb3aacfb1b3953bc671abcfb7e.gif){kind=avatar}
scared'o'needles!
69 Posts
Wow...you are all so knowledgable, my hats off to you all:-)
This is an amazing resource forum, I hope one day to be as well versed in illness as you all are.