Hematology and Vital Signs Flashcards
Resting heart rate (HR)
50-120 bpm (beats per minute)
Systolic Blood Pressure (SBP)
80-180 mmHg
Diastolic Blood Pressure (DBP)
40-110 mmHg
SaO2
> 95% on room air
Respiratory Rate
12-20 bpm (breathes per minute)
When should treatment be terminated?
If their vital signs fall outside of “normal” range, and any of the following symptoms occur.
- numbness or tingling
- nausea
- blurred vision
- dilated pupils
- increase in HR of 25 bpm over baseline
- change in systolic BP of 25 mmHg or more
- change in diastolic BP of 10 mmHg or more
- anginal pain
- shortness of breath
When do values outside of normal guidelines NOT mean treatment needs to automatically be deferred?
- Look at what has been trending over the past 24 hours
- Is the patient asymptomatic
- Are other factors involved (pain, sepsis, medications)
Normal ranges for hemoglobin…
Males: 14-18 grams per deciliter
Females: 12-16 grams per deciliter
Critical values for hemoglobin…
<5 or >20 grams per deciliter
What can cause an increase in hemoglobin?
- congenital heart disease
- polycythemia vera (excessive RBC’s produced)
- dehydration/hemoconcentration
- COPD
- CHF
- High altitude
- Severe burns
What can cause a decrease in hemoglobin?
- anemia
- hemorrhage
- hemolysis
- hemoglobinopathy
- nutritional deficiency
- lymphoma
- SLE
- sarcoidosis
- kidney disease
- splenomegaly
- neoplasia
What symptoms might you notice with low hemoglobin?
- Decrease exercise tolerance
- increased fatigue
- tachycardia
- low O2 carrying capacity means limited levels of oxygen available to the tissues
- To get oxygen to the tissues, heart rate and cardiac output will increase workload on the heart
What might cause normocytic, normochromic anemia?
- Iron deficiency (detected early)
- chronic illness
- acute blood loss
- aplastic anemia
- acquired hemolytic anemia
What might cause microcytic, normochromic anemia?
Renal disease
What might cause microcytic, hypochromic anemia?
- iron deficiency (detected late)
- thalassemia
- lead poisoning
