Are all types of glucose measurement equal? Does it matter if you use fingerstick, arterial, or catheter blood? Lacara and colleagues found that
glucose measures are equal
the source of blood does not matter unless your patient has
low hematocrit
low serum carbon dioxide
Care should be taken with patients who have abnormal hematocrit or carbon dioxide levels. Clinicians can verify the accuracy of point-of-care (POC) glucose testing by comparing the POC value with the laboratory value of a sample obtained at the same time.
See Article, pp 336–347
Did you know that your patient’s anxiety level may negatively affect his or her outcome after myocardial infarction, especially in-hospital complications? As Moser notes:
Women experience more anxiety than men and the difference is present in both Western and Eastern cultures.
Higher anxiety levels might help to explain poorer outcomes...