Fluid and electrolytes

Purple_roses · Sep 7, 2017

This was difficult for me too, so I ended up reading through old notes on anatomy and physiology. If you know what each electrolyte does, you'll be able to guess at what will happen if there is too much or too little of it. Aside from that, flash cards and writing it out until it sticks. You will never escape fluids and lytes, so best to just nail it down now.

PixieRN1 · Sep 9, 2017

Hi! Old nurse here.

I agree with the previous poster about learning the A&P behind it. For instance, if you know that anatomically, K+ follows Mg+, you will remember that if the K+ is low, you need to look at the Mg+ value as well to determine if that's low...because replacing K+ in the setting of an untreated low Mg+ just ain't gonna happen.

Really make it a point to understand cellular anatomy. It will make decisions regarding electrolytes second nature and a breeze, rather than just trying to cram a bunch of facts that don't make sense to you.

As for the actual lab values, that is pretty much route memorization.

Best of luck!