Parenteral anticoagulants are vital in the prevention of thrombus formation and thus, are commonly used in a hospital setting. A thrombus can restrict blood flow where formed such is the case with deep vein thrombosis (DVT). They may also become dislodged forming an emboli, which may travel and become lodged in the lungs, causing a pulmonary emboli, or other vessels including those going to the brain, causing a stroke.
While anticoagulants are many times necessary, when given subcutaneously, they have been associated with pain, purpura, melena, hematuria, osteoporosis, thrombocytopenia, and hematoma formation. While hematoma formation has not proven to be life threatening, it does lead to increased patient discomfort, distorted body image, and may lead to surgery. Different methods of preventing hematoma formation have been studied with regards to anticoagulant injection technique though no method has been consistently substantiated by the research or adopted by nursing texts.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-1878 |
| Date | 01 January 2009 |
| Creators | Parker, Sarah A. |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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