Lab values

Question 1

what labs are included in a complete blood count

Answer 1

hemoglobin
hematocrit
red blood cells
white bloods cells
platelets

Question 2

what does a high hematocrit (hct) indicate

Answer 2

dehydration

Question 3

what causes low Hgb and Hct

Answer 3

anemia or hemorrhage

Question 4

high WBCs indicate?

Answer 4

inflammation or infection

Question 5

low WBCs indicate? what causes this?

Answer 5

client is immunocompromised can be caused by chemo or immunosuppressants.

Question 6

high platelets indicate?

Answer 6

excess clotting

Question 7

low platelets indicate?

Answer 7

body is unable to clot or takes a long time to clot, therefore increasing risk of bleeding or hemorrhage

Question 8

what is partial thromboplastin time (PTT) test? why do we test PTT?

Answer 8

tests the intrinsic coagulation cascade, we test if a client is on heparin

Question 9

what does high PTT indicate.

Answer 9

it takes longer for blood to clot.

Question 10

what does prothrombin time (PT) test? what anticoagulant would require we monitor PT?

Answer 10

tests the extrinsic coagulation, warfarin.

Question 11

What is international normalization ratio (INR)? what anticoagulant would require we monitor INR?

Answer 11

it is the calculation from PT and is used to monitor warfarin.

Question 12

What tests are included in a metabolic panel? (10)

Answer 12

sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, chloride, phosphorous, glucose, BUN, creatinine, GFR

Question 13

What does an increased blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine (Cr) indicate? what would be a symptom of this?

Answer 13

indicates the kidneys are not filtering as they should, causing a buildup of toxins. This will cause neurocognitive changes.

Question 14

What is glomerular filtration rate (GFR)? what would a decreased GFR indicate?

Answer 14

the rate that blood is being filtered by the kidneys, if low it indicates kidney function is decreased.

Question 15

what is secreted by the liver? if these levels are high what would this indicate? what are symptoms of each?

Answer 15

the liver secretes ammonia and bilirubin, if these are high it indicates poor liver functioning. high ammonia will cause neuro changes, high bilirubin will cause jaundice.

Question 16

what is made in the liver?

Answer 16

Alkaline phosphate (ALP), Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alaninine aminotransferase (ALT) and albumin

Question 17

if the liver is under stress what will increase?

Answer 17

ALP, AST, ALT

Question 18

If the liver is under stress what will go down? what happens as a result of this?

Answer 18

albumin
if albumin decreases, water will no longer have a “buddy” to attach to to keep it in the intravascular space, therefore water will begin to leak out of blood vessels resulting in asides, hypotension and third spacing.

Question 19

what are troponins? what does increased levels indicate?

Answer 19

protein that regulate muscular contraction, if there is a sharp increase it indicates muscle damage and we are very suspicious that a myocardial infarction has occured.

Question 20

what is b-type naturic peptide (BNP)? what do increased levels indicate?

Answer 20

it is a hormone released by the heart when there is fluid retention so that the heart can pump harder to push the fluid forward. High levels of BNP could indicate CHF.

Question 21

what is total cholesterol made up of?

Answer 21

HDLs and LDLs

Question 22

do we want high or low levels of HDLS? why?

Answer 22

We want high levels because they “eat” the LDLs, which reduce plaque buildup and the risk for coronary artery disease

Question 23

do we want high or low levels of LDLs? why?

Answer 23

we want low because they are lousy proteins thats cause a build up of plaque in the artery, increasing the risk for coronary artery disease and myocardial infarction.

Question 24

are triglycerides good or bad?

Answer 24

bad, we want low levels because they are even worse than LDLs and cause more plaque buildup.

Question 25

What is included in a thyroid panel?

Answer 25

thyroid stimulating hormone, serum thyroxine and serum triiodothyronine.

Question 26

if T4 and T3 are elevated and TSH is low, what does this indicate?

Answer 26

hyperthyroidism or graves disease

Question 27

if T4 and T3 are reduced and TSH is elevated, what does this indicate?

Answer 27

hypothyroidism

Question 28

what does hemoglobin A1C measure?

Answer 28

the amount of glycosylated hemoglobin (a glucose molecule attached to a hemoglobin)

Question 29

what range should HgA1C be in a non-diabetic?

Answer 29

4-5.6%

Question 30

what range of HgA1C indicate client is pre-diabetic?

Answer 30

5.7-6.4%

Question 31

What level of HgA1C would indicate a client has diabetes? what is the target level for someone with diabetes?

Answer 31

> 6.5%, the target level is <7%

Question 32

what does an increased d-dimer indicate?

Answer 32

there is a clot somewhere in the body

Question 33

what does increased CRP or ESR indicate?

Answer 33

inflammation somewhere in the body that needs to be investigated.

Question 34

what would increased specific gravity or osmolarity of urine indicate? what would decreased?

Answer 34

increased would indicate dehydration
decreased indicates dilute urine

Question 35

what would increased albumin in the urine indicate?

Answer 35

kidney disease

Question 36

what would high levels of WBCs in the urine indicate?

Answer 36

UTI or inflammation

Question 37

If there was protein present in urine, what would this indicate?

Answer 37

kidney disease or preeclampsia

Question 38

If there was glucose or ketones present in the urine, what would this indicate?

Answer 38

diabetes or kidney disease