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Nursing Lab Values

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Nursing Lab Values Cheat Sheet permalink

________________________________________
Lab Values: Cheat Sheet

Red Blood Cells (RBC):
- Normal: male = 4.6- 6.2 female = 4.2- 5.2
- Actual count of red corpuscles

Hemoglobin:
- Normal: male = 14-18 g/dl female = 12-16 g/dl
- A direct measure of oxygen carrying capacity of the blood

Hematocrit :
- Normal: males = 39- 49% female = 35- 45%
- = the percentage of blood that is composed of erythrocytes

Mean Cell Volume (MCV):
- Normal: male = 80- 96 female = 82- 98
-
Mean Cell Hemoglobin (MCH):
- Normal: 27- 33
- = % volume of hemoglobin per RBC

* Increase: indicates folate deficiency
* Decrease: indicates iron deficiency

Mean Cell Hemoglobin Concentration):
- Normal: 31- 35

Reticulocyte Count:
- Normal: 0.5-2.5% of RBC
- An indirect measure of RBC production

Red Blood Cell Distribution Width (RDW):
- Normal: 11-16%
- Indicates variation in red cell volume
* Increase: indicates iron deficiency anemia or mixed anemia
- Note: increase in RDW occurs earlier than decrease in MCV therefore RDW is used for early detection of iron deficiency anemia

Platelet Count:
- Normal: 140,000 - 440,000

* Low: worry patient will bleed
* High: not clinically significant

White Blood Cell (WBC):
- Normal: 3.4 – 10

* Increase: occur during infections and physiologic stress
* Decreases: marrow suppression and chemotherapy

Sodium (Na):
- Normal: 136- 145
- Major contributory to cell osmolality and in control of water balance
* Hypernatremia: greater than 145
 Causes: sodium overload or volume depletion
 Seen in: impaired thirst, inability to replace insensible losses, renal or GI loss
 S/sx: thirst, restlessness, irritability, lethargy, muscle twitching, seizures, hyper flexia, coma and death.
* Hyponatremia: 136 or less
 Causes: true depletion or dilutional

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