What condition should an RN suspect if a patient's ferritin level increased from 550 to 1195?

An increase in ferritin levels from 550 to 1195 is a significant elevation that typically points towards iron overload disorder rather than infection. Ferritin is a protein that stores iron in the body, and elevated levels can indicate excess iron accumulation. This condition might be due to various factors such as hereditary hemochromatosis, repeated blood transfusions, or excessive dietary iron—conditions generally characterized by elevated ferritin.

Infections might often lead to an increase in ferritin activity as part of the acute phase response; however, such a substantial rise as seen here is much less likely to be solely due to an infectious process, especially in the absence of other signs indicating an acute infection. Chronic kidney disease can also cause alterations in ferritin levels, but these changes typically do not result in such drastic elevations without significant iron therapy considering kidney dysfunction. Vitamin deficiencies usually do not correlate with high ferritin levels; they are more often linked with low levels of ferritin due to decreased iron availability.

Thus, an RN should be alert to the possibility of an iron overload disorder when presented with such high ferritin levels.