Difficulty: Medium
Average Score: 66%
Simulated
A patient, who is receiving continuous IV Heparin for the treatment of a DVT, has an aPTT of 110 seconds. What is your next nursing action per protocol?
Correct answer
D
Rationale
The aPTT is 110 seconds, which is too high. Any aPTT value greater than 80 seconds places the patient at risk for bleeding. Most Heparin protocols dictate that the nurse would hold the infusion for 1 hour and to decrease the rate of infusion. If the aPTT is less than 60 seconds, the dose would need to be increased and a bolus may be needed. aPTT values should be around 60-80 seconds to achieve a therapeutic response for Heparin.