So we've all been there: You're getting report and the nurse tells you, "Oh I know her blood pressure is 200/110, that's her baseline." What?!?!?!?
Some of my favorites:
"Baseline heart rate stable in the 140's." Uh, yeah...stable...
"Baseline blood sugar is usually in the 50's so don't be alarmed." :nuke:
"Chest tube output is around 150/hour but that's around where it's been so I haven't called anyone." :smackingf
(Report being called from the OR) "Case was uneventful, she is coming up open-chested." That sounds like an event to me! LOL! I guess open chests are pretty typical in the OR, though!
What is the craziest "BASELINE" you've ever been given in report?
I haven't really had any off the wall baselines before but I do have a family member who's spouse is on the vent. The family member ALWAYS freaks out if the pt's Sats are 96% and myself and the RT both explain to the spouse that 96% is fine. We explain that the pt is A/A, following commands, and is in NO resp distress. There is simply NO convincing some people that their loved 1 really IS in good hands.
I work in ICU. Just this week I was taking report on a pt and she had about a 10 beat run of what looked like v-tach on the monitor. When I questioned it the nurse giving me report said "oh yeah she's been doing that all day, it's fine".
Stuff like that makes me nervous. The pt in question had a cardiology consult the day before so I called and asked if the cardiologist on call would just come by and check up on her and see what he thought. Turns out it was just a-fib with a flipped axis.... So in the am when I was giving report I said "oh yeah she's been doing that all night, it's fine".
Diabetic pt c/o feeling like her blood sugar is low. Check it and it's in the 120s. She's like, "Oh well that's low for me. I'm usually in the 400-500s at home."
young anorexic with HR 20-30s vitals otherwise stable, she was out of bed walking/talking. got downgraded to the floor that way. It completely freaked me out!
I took care of a Down's syndrome pt once. She was rather long-lived for a Down's pt; she was in her mid-50's. Her O2 sat was always in the upper 60's/low 70's, and she was alert, talking, normal activity, although her skin color was always on the blue side. IIRC, she had Down's-related congenital heart defects, which had never been fixed.
Took care of a fresh CABG once with a HR 39-42; that was her baseline for the last six months of her medical record. Not sure why they never did a permanent pacer on her. She, too, was alert, talking, active, and had a normal BP.
Had a leukemia pt (CLL or CML I think, can't remember) with a WBC count in the 100's-130's. (I don't see many leukemia pts, so that sticks out in my mind.)
LOL These are a riot. It's funny, my baseline HR is 50s and when I was in postop C/S myself, it dropped into 40s while I was sleeping. The nurses had a riot and kept taking my BP, pulse, everything and I was just trying to SLEEP! Woke the baby up too!
Diabetic with BS +1000 (not making this up). Guy was up and about, said his normal was usually in the 700-800s. If it makes a difference, this was in a psych unit.
Okay, so my eyes actually bugged out reading this one.
Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
When I did clinicals at the nursing home I would report bs in the 300+ range and always told not to worry that was normal there. This was first semester and went against everything we were taught so it was a bit nerve wracking.
What?!?!?!? 
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LilDolphin
18 Posts
I haven't really had any off the wall baselines before but I do have a family member who's spouse is on the vent. The family member ALWAYS freaks out if the pt's Sats are 96% and myself and the RT both explain to the spouse that 96% is fine. We explain that the pt is A/A, following commands, and is in NO resp distress. There is simply NO convincing some people that their loved 1 really IS in good hands.