PANIC VALUES

Critical Panic Values List

Chemistry Panel

Test Applicable Age Critical Limits Unit
Anion Gap All ages Above 30 mmol/L
Bicarbonate (Whole Blood) All ages Below 10 or Above 40 mEq/L
Calcium (Total) All ages Below 6.5 or Above 13 mg/dL
Chloride All ages Below 80 or Above 120 mmol/L
CO2 All ages Below 10 or Above 40 mmol/L
Carboxyhemoglobin All ages Below 20 or Above 40 %
Ionized Calcium All ages Below 20 or Above 40 %
Glucose 0–2 days / >2 days–1 yr / >1 yr >35 / >40 / >55 mg/dL
Glucose <30 days / 1 mo–17 yrs / >17 yrs >200 / >300 / >450 mg/dL
GDM Glucose Tests All ages Below 50 or Above 300 mg/dL
Glucose (Point-of-Care) All ages Below 40 or Above 300 mg/dL
Serum Iron All ages Above 350 µg/dL
Magnesium All ages Below 1.0 or Above 3.5 mg/dL
pCO2 All ages Above 65 mmHg
pH (Blood) All ages Below 7.20 or Above 7.60 pH units
Cord Blood pH All ages ≤7.00 —
Cord Blood Base Excess All ages ≤−10.0 or ≥10.0 mmol/L
Phosphorus <3 yrs / 3–12 yrs / >12 yrs <2.5 / <2.0 / <1.5 mg/dL
Arterial pO2 All ages Below 50 or Above 300 mmHg
Potassium (POCT) All ages Below 3.0 or Above 6.0 mmol/L
Sodium All ages Below 125 or Above 160 mmol/L
TCO2 (Whole Blood) All ages Below 10 or Above 40 mEq/L
Total Bilirubin <1 day / 1–2 days / 2–30 days >7 / >11 / >15 mg/dL
Troponin I All ages ≥0.3 ng/mL
Troponin I (POCT) All ages ≥0.1 ng/mL

Coagulation Tests

Test Applicable Age Critical Limits Unit
Fibrinogen All ages Below 100 mg/dL
Unfractionated Heparin All ages Below 0.1 or Above 0.7 IU/mL
PTT (aPTT) All ages ≥100 sec
PT INR All ages >5.0 —
PT INR (POCT) All ages >4.5 —

Hematology Panel

Test Applicable Age Critical Values Unit
Absolute Neutrophil Count All ages ≤0.5 (Outpatients) K/μL
Body Fluid Cell Count All ages Intracellular organisms, tumor cells, or blasts —
CSF Cell Count All ages WBC >30 (excluding contamination), presence of blasts or tumor cells /μL or —
Gram Stain All ages Positive result —
Hematocrit All ages ≤21 or ≥65 %
Hemoglobin All ages ≤7.0 g/dL
Malaria Test All ages Positive —
Platelets All ages ≤10,000 or ≤50,000 (OB), ≤100,000 with microangiopathy /μL
Blood Smear All ages Blasts or intracellular organisms %
Stool (Children <18) <18 years Sperm detected —
Urinalysis (Children <18) <18 years Sperm or Trichomonas —
WBC All ages ≤0.5 (OPD) or ≥50 K/μL

Microbiology Alerts

Test Applicable Age Critical Findings Unit
Any Test Suspected for Bioterrorism Agent All ages Presence of B. anthracis, F. tularensis, Y. pestis, or Brucella species —
Blood Culture All ages Any significant positive —
MTB PCR All ages Positive result on tissue or culture —
Shiga-toxin E. Coli <18 years Positive —

Virology Findings

Test Applicable Age Critical Result Unit
Any Viral Test (Antigen, PCR, etc.) All ages Positive or suspicious for pandemic/bioterror agents (e.g., SARS, Smallpox) —
CSF Viral Test All ages Any positive result (culture or PCR) —