Serous / Sanguinous

[EJSRN, BSN, RN]

Talking about wound drainage... Serous; serosanguinous; sanguinous. Thought I knew but now not so sure. I know this is stupid... thanks

[bummer83]

serosanguinous fluid

[StNeotser, ASN, RN]

serous - watery like fluid

Sanguineous - bloody fluid.

serosanguinous - bit o' both.

[Reno1978, BSN, RN]

Serous is usually pale yellow and transparent.

Serosanguinous would be the same as the above with blood involved, so it usually looks like diluted blood.

I use the terms serous and serosanguinous often....but....

Sanguinous would contain mostly blood. I don't think I've ever really used this term when describing any type of drainage, or heard anyone i work with use this term. Usually if there is frank red blood coming out of anywhere on a patient, we state just that.

[guest337992]

Here's a question I got, and I'd like to know what you think.

Following a head injury, the client has thin drainage coming from the left year. The nurse describes this drainage as:

A. Serous

B. Purulent

C. Cerebrospinal fluid

D. Serosanguineous

Here's another...

Which of the following interventions is mostly likely to minimize the cause of a pressure ulcer on the left buttock of a client who is comatose?

A. Turn and position the client at least ever 2 hours

B. Use a lift sheet when moving the client up in bed

C. Change wet, soiled clothing as promptly as it is detected

D. Keep the head of the client's bed elevated greater than 90 degrees

Interested to see what you think.

[SolaireSolstice, BSN, RN]

First one, there is no description of the fluid, except it's "thin", Serous would be transparent yellowish, Purulant cloudy, Serosanguinous would be serous fluid with blood so transparent with pinkish or reddish tinge, so I'm thinking they want cerebrALspinal fluid, being that it was a head injury. Not a well written question though.

2nd one, turn every 2 hours. The others, while there are inteventions to prevent, the key words are PRESSURE and MOST LIKELY. Turning every 2 hours relieves pressure on a particular area.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

Following a head injury, the client has thin drainage coming from the left year. the nurse describes this drainage as:

a. Serous

b. Purulent

c. Cerebrospinal fluid

d. Serosanguineous

Which of the following interventions is mostly likely to minimize the cause of a pressure ulcer on the left buttock of a client who is comatose?

a. Turn and position the client at least ever 2 hours

b. Use a lift sheet when moving the client up in bed

c. Change wet, soiled clothing as promptly as it is detected

d. Keep the head of the client's bed elevated greater than 90 degrees

[morte, LPN, LVN]

i dont think it is within nursings domain to call it cerebrospinal fluid.....

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

First, the first question: The drainage could be cerebrospinal fluid or it could be something else; the dx is not ours to make, it's the doc's. So nurses can only describe it, don't diagnose it. Thin fluid could be serous or serosanguinous, so those are two possible answers. The only difference between the two would be color, so since the question does not describe any color, I'd go with serous.

The second question: I agree with Daytonite, because if you wait until soiled linen is detected, it presumes you're not turning q2h. But if you're turning and repositioning, you'll notice any soiled linens faster. Keeping the HOB elevated only puts more pressure on the sacrum and buttocks, so that's wrong. Using a lift sheet is always a good idea, but IMO not the best answer.

[hypocaffeinemia, BSN, RN]

morte said:

i dont think it is within nursings domain to call it cerebrospinal fluid.....

When I pulled a cath sheath last night, was I operating outside my domain to call what spurted out the dude's femoral artery "blood"? Should I have instead charted "pulsatile viscous bright red colloidal substance"?

[morte, LPN, LVN]

hypocaffeinemia said:

When I pulled a cath sheath last night, was I operating outside my domain to call what spurted out the dude's femoral artery "blood"? Should I have instead charted "pulsatile viscous bright red colloidal substance"?

lololol....hypo, you are a riot this morning....language is great is it not? but we need to use it carefully

you know where that sheath was......so you know what the liquid was.......we do not know what the drainage from the ear is, until it is tested....because, as angie stated it could be any of the three.....good luck on your new career

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

hypocaffeinemia said:

When I pulled a cath sheath last night, was I operating outside my domain to call what spurted out the dude's femoral artery "blood"? Should I have instead charted "pulsatile viscous bright red colloidal substance"?

Cute, but you know what I mean. From an artery, it's most likely blood, but the point is -- if the sheath is pulled, blood is expected to be there. Of course, if the artery started spurting blue daisies, you might wanna chart that as a description because it is not normal to bleed blue daisies.

From an ear -- it could be water, ear wax, lord-knows-what foreign object leaking fluid, or cerebrospinal fluid. It's drainage that is not normal and expected. But you can't tell if it's csf without a specific test, so that's why you cannot chart it as csf.