Nurse educated the patient and caregiver regarding the INR reading from PT/INR test as follows:
- Different labs use different PT tests and so, the results vary slightly from one another. Since these results are lacking a standardization, a new ratio was created using the PT result. This ratio is called INR (International Normalized Ratio), which allows a comparison between different lab results for PT with more accuracy.
- This reading is a measure of time taken for a person’s blood to clot.
- Normal result for a healthy adult is about 1.0.
- Based on various factors, a person’s blood could be thin (difficult to clot) or thick (risk for an easy clot) and can result in altered readings from the usual normal.
- With patients who are on blood thinners, this number will be higher than the normal health adult, indicating that it takes longer for them to clot.
- If this number is too close to the normal (1.0), it indicates that the blood is thick and the patient is at increased risk to clot.
- If this number is too high than the normal (>3.0), it indicates that the blood is thin and the patient is at increased risk to bleed.
- The target for patients on blood thinners is to manage the number between 2.0 – 3.0 and frequent dose changes on the blood thinner medication might be needed to achieve this task.
