Question

You are assigned to cover the open-heart recovery unit and will be monitoring heparin therapy on several patients. Which of the following point-of-care (POC) tests will you perform to monitor heparin therapy?

1) Activated clotting time (ACT)
2) Partial thromboplastin time (PTT)
3) Prothrombin time (PT)
4) International normalized ratio (INR)

Answer 1

The two POC tests commonly used to monitor heparin therapy are the ACT and PTT.

Step-by-step explanation:

When monitoring heparin therapy, the two most commonly used point-of-care (POC) tests are the activated clotting time (ACT) and the partial thromboplastin time (PTT).

Activated clotting time (ACT): This test measures the time it takes for blood to clot after a substance called celite is added to the sample. It assesses the activity of the intrinsic pathway of coagulation, which heparin affects.

Partial thromboplastin time (PTT): This test measures the time it takes for blood to clot after certain reagents are added to the sample. It also evaluates the intrinsic pathway and is sensitive to the effects of heparin.