A patient is admitted to the hospital with complaints of nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and severe abdominal pain. Which of the following would immediately alert the nurse that the patient has bleeding from the GI tract?
Option B: To assess for GI tract bleeding when frank blood is absent, the nurse has two options: She can test for occult blood in vomitus, if present, or in stool – through guaiac (Hemoccult) test.
Option A: A complete blood count does not provide immediate results and does not always immediately reflect blood loss.
Option C: Changes in vital signs may be caused by factors other than blood loss.
Option D: Abdominal girth is unrelated to blood loss.
Complete blood count.
Guaiac test.
Vital signs.
Abdominal girth.