FLUIDS, ELECTROLYTES & ABG'S, OH MY!!

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Holy cow!! How in the heck am I supposed to learn/memorize all these electrolytes & abg's in a week?? It seems like there's so many S&S and a lot of them are alike! And don't get me started on abg's! I even bought that f&e made easy book and read the part on abg's and it's still not easy!!

Anybody have any tips or tricks that helped them through this material??

Specializes in CV Surgery Step-down.
Maagnursing.com is a very instructive site that includes ABGs.

I used maagnursing.com, too! It really helps.

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Specializes in Rural Health.

F&E made incredibly easy by Lipincott. That book as save my little "you know what" from those bad, hard F&E tests numerous times. It was well worth the $38.

I also take every single practice test I can find. It helps for me to take all the information and put it together in regards to the patient and their care. For me this stuff is nice to know...but I need to know what in means in regards to the patient in front of me. It helps me understand lab values and what would happen next to the patient and it helps me "critically" think about the whole picture.

Also, when I go to clinicals I pull lab reports and I look at them. I try to think what that means in regards to F&E imbalances (if there is one) and I try and think about the S&S of that particular one and does my patient have any of those. I also do this at work too when I have time (I work in an ER).

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