The CRAZIEST "Baseline" You've Ever Heard

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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." :eek: What?!?!?!?

Some of my favorites:

"Baseline heart rate stable in the 140's." Uh, yeah...stable... :rolleyes:

"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?

Specializes in Oncology.

Our CLL patients have wicked high white counts often. We had a patient who had "lived" at a WBC of 400,000 for over a year, resistent to treatment.

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Specializes in Emergency.
We had a pt one weekend who kept going into a third degree block with a ventricular rate in the teens every time he fell asleep. It was kinda fun freaking out the high-strung day nurse with that one...sometimes I'm evil that way.

Had a pt with an AICD that kept having 30-50 beat runs of V-tach. I never did find out how high she was set, as it never fired.

I work oncology and we regularly get pts with WBCs over 100 and platelets less than 20. That took some getting used to, as did the massive doses of narcs some of them are on. Oxy IR 100 mg q4 plus Fentanyl patch of 150 mcg plus morphine 8 mg IV for breakthru pain...and they're totally alert.

A couple of summers ago (I work onco) we had a pt on 450mcg of IV fentanyl an hour, with 60 of MS contin every 8 and he was still A&O and up and about on his own.

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Specializes in pediatric critical care.

I have had several pediatric patient with a history of traumatic brain injury and many of them have a baseline temp of 34-35 degrees celcius, about 93-94 fahrenheit.

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Specializes in ICU.
I had a VA ECMO with a baseline HR of asystole. That was weird.

wow. Very interesting.

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BP 70's/30's; it's okay, her baseline is 80's/40's, and she's sleeping.

Actually not all that weird in a paraplegic.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
My 5 year old is vent dependent. His "normal" VS are HR 40-60, temp 91-92 F rectally, B/P 80/50, O2 sats 95% on 5LPM, CO2 66. I have a laminated index card with all this info that I immediately hand to the triage nurse whenever we go to the hospital so they don't freak out.

Goodness how hard for you! What happened if you don't mind me asking? How do you cope?

Very sensible of you to have a card reading with that info I think.

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