Thromboelastography: A Practice Summary for Nurse Practitioners Treating Hemorrhage.
Nurse practitioners may manage patients with coagulopathic bleeding which can lead to life-threatening hemorrhage. Routine plasma-based tests such as prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time are inadequate in diagnosing hemorrhagic coagulopathy. Indiscriminate administration of fresh frozen plasma, platelets or cryoprecipitate for coagulopathic states can be extremely dangerous. The qualitative analysis that thromboelastography provides can facilitate the administration of the right blood product, at the right time, thereby permitting the application of goal-directed therapy for coagulopathic intervention application and patient survival.
School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, 3500 Victoria St., 336 Victoria Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Eliezer
E
Bose
School of Nursing, University of Pittsburgh, 3500 Victoria St., 336 Victoria Building, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA.
Marilyn
M
Hravnak
Thromboelastography; coagulopathy; fibrinolysis; hemorrhage; thromboelastogram; thromboelastometry; trauma; viscoelastic testing