Purpose: To identify factors that could be affecting the results of a patient's erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR).					Citations with documentation. 03.01.03		Medal Project 2001. See disclaimer.
							I	D
data	enter
Are you evaluating the ESR results for a patient? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)
age of the patient in years		years					0
Does the patient have renal failure? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)					0
Does the patient have congestive heart failure? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)						0
Is the serum cholesterol elevated? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)					0
Is the patient being treated with valproic acid? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)						0
Is the patient being treated with steroids or anti-inflammatory agents? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)						1
Are serum bile salts elevated? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)						0
Was the tube tested while perfectly vertical? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)					0
Was the bench or tube subjected to vibrations during the testing period? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)						0
Was testing delayed for 2 or more hours after specimen collection? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)						0
Was the specimen cold or chilled when tested? (Y or N)		:-):-):-)						0
enter an "x" in the appropriate column for each parameter (give only 1 answer per row)
	elevated	normal	hypothermic
body temperature						Yes	0	1
	anemia	normal	polycythemia
red blood cell count						Yes	0	1
	macrocytosis	normal	microcytosis
red cell size						Yes	0	1
	none	aggregates	sickling	spherocytosis
red cell changes						Yes	0	1
	low	normal	elevated	markedly elevated
white blood cell count						Yes		1
	decreased or dysfunctional	normal	elevated
serum fibrinogen						Yes	1	0
	decreased	normal	elevated
other serum proteins						Yes	1	0
	none	HMW	LMW
dextran infusion						Yes	0	1
	clotted	heparin anticoagulant	EDTA anticoagulant	citrate anticoagulant
specimen collection						Yes	0	0
	male	pregnant woman	nonpregnant woman
patient						Yes		1
	severe cachexia	underweight	normal	obese	severely obese
nutritional status						Yes	0	0
calculate	result
data complete?	Yes
evaluation appropriate?	Yes	:-):-):-)
number of factors that could be elevating the ESR	2
number of factors that could be depressing the ESR	8