The nurse is performing an admission assessment on a 46-year-old client,who states,"I have been drinking a 12-pack of beer every day for the past 20 years." Which laboratory abnormality does the nurse correlate with this history?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The liver is the site for production of prothrombin and most of the blood-clotting factors.If the liver is damaged because of chronic alcoholism,it is unable to produce these clotting factors.Therefore,the PT could become elevated,which would reflect deficiency of some clotting factors.The WBC would not be elevated in this situation because no infection is present.Bleeding time would likely increase.The client's RBC count most likely would not be affected unless the client was bleeding,in which case it would decrease.

The Nurse Is Performing an Admission Assessment on a 46-Year-Old