FeatureThromboelastography: A Practice Summary for Nurse Practitioners Treating Hemorrhage

- Routine plasma-based tests are inadequate for hemorrhagic coagulopathy.
- Indiscriminate treatment with blood products is dangerous for patients.
- Nurse practitioners can use thromboelastography to manage coagulopathic interventions.

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.