 Welcome to Nursing School Explained and another video in the Care Plan Help series where we tie the lab values and the nursing considerations to our patient's specific scenario. This time we'll go over platelets and we know that platelets help us with clotting and stopping any kind of bleeding. So, in case the platelets are off, specifically if they are low, we want to assess the patient's vital signs because when the platelets are low, that means the patient can't clot and they might have some bleeding and that would be reflected in the heart rate and the blood pressure. Certainly we want to check for any signs and symptoms of bleeding from any surgical sites, any invasive sites such as arterial lines or central lines that have been removed, any bleeding of the stool and the gums. When platelets are extremely low, initially it will manifest itself as paticae and then as purpura, which is a pretty late sign, so just make sure that you know what those look like and hopefully somebody, besides doing clinical, will have already gathered that information. And then for medication, so we want to tie in and make sure is the patient taking any NSAIDs, any non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs that make them prone for stomach ulcers and possible GI bleeding and are they taking any anti-platelet agents that might also have something to do with the patient's inability to clot. And so now let's try and apply the information here to a specific patient care scenario that you might encounter in clinical. So the example here is a very simple one, a 45-year-old female whose status post-cholestestectomy, her past medical history includes diabetes, hyperlipidemia and she's a smoker. So if we check the vital signs and we see that she's tachycardic and hypotensive and we're worried about her platelets, we can give her IV fluids to help bring the blood pressure up in the heart rate down. We could consider a platelet transfusion if they are low and even a blood transfusion if it has resulted in bleeding and she's now low on her red blood cells and hemoglobin and hematocrit as well. Now if there's any signs and symptoms of bleeding from like a surgical site or from let's say the removal of a central line, we want to perform a dressing change and apply simple pressure in order to help with that. If the patient is on any meds and we notice that there are abnormalities in the platelets, specifically if they are low, we want to definitely hold the medication, assess the lab value first and then notify the provider to maybe consider taking this medication off the patient's list for good because now they're interfering with the platelets. And specifically in this patient with the status postcholestestectomy, so if she had some sort of underlying condition that made her prone to having low platelets, we certainly have to consider that because surgery is going to put the patient at risk for bleeding and if she already goes in with a low platelet level into the surgery, then she's at higher risk of bleeding and some possible complications. So that's why it's so important to look at the patient's specific situation and also their past medical history, their current lab values and tie it all together and think about, critically think about what kind of complications am I looking for because that's our goal. We want to prevent any potential complications in clinical and show our instructor that we're able to relate the theoretical knowledge and the patient that's in front of us and really think about that and prevent any adverse patient outcomes. Thanks for watching this video. Also check out the other videos in the Care Plan Help Series that pertain to lab results and nursing considerations. Thanks for watching.