Patient Hemorrhage

[akruc353]

What are some early interventions for treating a patient who is hemorrhaging?

What type of IV fluid is best? NS, LR?

I have read that you do not want to give LR with blood products because it can cause them to clot..

This is how I am thinking and I know it depends on the type of hemorrhage. But in general what would be early interventions?

[LessValuableNinja]

Depends on the situation. Why?

LR is never given in the same line as blood products.

[mrsboots87]

It's not that LR can't be given as a fluid choice until blood arrives, but that the blood tubing cannot be primed or piggy backed with LR. Only NS. I personally have not seen LR used as a first line fluid for hemorage, but I also am barely to a year of experience in nursing.

[LessValuableNinja]

NS is inferior to LR for resuscitation in blood loss in a prehospital setting in the absence of blood-based volume expanders. That aside, you can't mix LR with blood. They do not play well together.

[AliNajaCat]

You, the nurse, would not be making this decision anyway. That's not to say that you shouldn't know the answer, but still.

[LessValuableNinja]

Where I've worked, the order reads, "Give 1U PRBCs now" So...

[scuba nurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

ALL blood products should be given with NS you do not need an order for the NS along with the blood products, as it is a given.

[AliNajaCat]

ALL blood products should be given with NS you do not need an order for the NS along with the blood products, as it is a given.

Not so. While you may have a hospital protocol/policy that says you must use NS to prime and flush the line, you have to have a physician prescription for the amount of fluid to give. There are plenty of people who you can't just throw hundreds of ccs of NS into willy-nilly.