Question

You are the Home Health nurse assigned to care for an elderly female with cirrhosis. You are at your weekly home visit when the daughter related that her mother has been having emesis with obvious blood 1-2 times per day. You go into the client’s room and find that she is vomiting what appears to be blood. 1. What actions will you take immediately? 2. In what order of priority should you implement these interventions? 3. How can you differentiate if this is a gastrointestinal bleed or an esophageal bleed?

Answer 1

Answer: When the blood can not pass through the liver, it effects the walls of esophageal tract and causes vomiting along with blood. The increased blood pressure due to poor flow of the blood to the liver as well as veins causes vomiting along with blood.

As soon as patient start having vomiting along with the blood, the nurse should intervene the patient condition and check thoroughly. The nurse should check the blood pressure as High blood pressure gives rise to the blood in the vomiting. All the diagnostic procedures should be performed and physician should be called immediately. Because the at the last date of gastrointestinal bleeding, blood starts to come. The blood pressure should be controlled and as soon as possible should inform the physician.