Lab Values Flashcards
note
for priority questions: MANS
- Maslow: basic needs take priority over higher needs (air, water, food, safety)
- ABCs: keep them breathing, look for things that could affect airway, breathing or circulation, these take priority
- Nursing process: remember ADPIE (assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, evaluation), always assess before you intervene, answers aren’t typically to delegate to CNA
another note
these cards are not the same as the ppt. these are only what she mentioned is important. there is more on the ppt.
what are lab values for?
- screening (to check if anything abnormal pops up)
- diagnosis (have symptoms and we’re looking to see what is wrong)
- monitoring (have been diagnosed so just checking lab value to see how treatment is going)
factors affecting lab values
- age
- gender (female lab values generally lower than males)
- race
- pregnancy
- food ingestion
^CBC (complete blood count)
- RBC: # of red cells per mL/blood
- Hgb: O2 carrying protein
- Hct: packed volume of RBCs, % of total volume
- MCV: cell size (normocytic, macro and micro)
- MCH: amount of Hgb per cell
- MCHC: Hgb/Hct per 100mL/RBCs
- RDW: red cell distribution width
- platelet: # of plt. per cc/blood
- WBC: # of white cells per mL/blood
(1 vial, 1 order,
cellular components of blood,
infection, weakness, anemia, bleeding and fluid status)
erythrocyte count (RBC)
- if have ongoing bleeding issue, may use erythrocyte count to monitor it
- normally low in pregnancy
- when decreased by more than 10% of normal range, that is considered anemia
hemoglobin (Hgb or Hb)
- for in depth evaluation of anemic patients
- if low hemoglobin, low oxygen transport, there is going to be strain on cardiopulmonary system
hematocrit (Hct)
- if hematocrit less than 15% or above 60%, it is a critical situation
- normal level can vary by gender and age, so women normally have lower hematocrit, and advanced age have lower hematocrit
anemia
- greater than 10% decrease in erythrocytes (RBCs) is considered anemia
- decrease in number of RBCs (erythrocytes)
– impaired RBC production
– blood loss
– RBC destruction
– combination of all 3
platelet count (thrombocytes)
- platelets form the clot that stops the bleeding
– if too low, could bleed out, bc no clot to stop bleeding
– if too high, could form clots when don’t need to - anything under 80,000: cause for concern
- anything under 50,000: significant bleeding
- hold enoxaparin or levinox (injectable med to prevent blood clots, decreases platelets) if platelet count is less than 80,000
(if pt has chronically low platelets, may be an order to still give it if platelets above 50 or 40,000) - teaching: for low platelets, tell us if have bleeding gums when brushing teeth, be careful, maybe put on fall risk bc simple things could cause problems and bleeding for them
total WBCs (leukocytes)
- bacterial infections typically alter white count as opposed to viral
WBC definitions
- leukocytosis: abnormally large # of leukocytes, 10,000 or greater cells/mL3
- left shift: tells us where inflammation is found in the body, where inflammation is coming from
basic metabolic panel (BMP)
- kidney function
- blood glucose
- acid/base balance
- electrolyte imbalance
includes: - blood urea nitrogen
- creatinine
- glucose
- carbon dioxide content
- calcium
- chloride
- potassium
- sodium
comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP)
BMP plus:
- blood proteins
- liver function
includes BMP plus:
- albumin
- total protein
- alkaline phosphatase (ALP)
- aspartate aminotransferase (AST)
- alanine aminotransferase (ALT)
- bilirubin
glucose
- normal range: 70-110 mg/dL
- dependent on when and what I last ate
- normal fasting glucose: pt hasn’t eaten in last few hours
- expect number to be higher than this if they’ve recently eaten
- can check with accudata
glycosylated hemoglobin A1c
- avg blood glucose for last 3 months
- not dependent on what or when they’ve eaten
- non-diabetic normal person: 4 - 5.9%
- good diabetic control: less than 7%
- fair diabetic control: 8-9%
- poor: greater than 9%
- if A1c is 9.5, do a glucose check
- may not want to do a sliding scale insulin