Lab values Kaplan vs Saunders?

For myself, I found it easier not to compare labs & ABG's, too confusing. I stuck with Saunder's because it was closest to what I learned in my good ole med/surg book. Hope this helps :wink2: .

In my experience, any lab values that appeared on the NCLEX (and they were few) were GLARINGLY wrong... for instance, a Hct of 12 or something, not in a gray area close to the recommended range. Keeping that in mind, the slight differences in values should not affect you too much. Just have a general range in mind for them... Good luck!

In my experience, any lab values that appeared on the NCLEX (and they were few) were GLARINGLY wrong... for instance, a Hct of 12 or something, not in a gray area close to the recommended range. Keeping that in mind, the slight differences in values should not affect you too much. Just have a general range in mind for them... Good luck!

I agree! Just choose one to learn & stick with it. Questions containing lab values do tend to have them very off, your job is more to choose what you'd do about it, or which patient you'd see 1st when presented with a set of labs.

I think it's more important to know who is more at risk - the pt who is hypokalaemic or hyperkalaemic, in fact the pt who is hypo or hyper anything else for that matter. get into your head which pt's are priorty cases when lab values are wrong rather than exact values. Excuse the UK spellings -haven't quite mastered US ones!

Good luck in your studies.

Agree with the above posters! The labs on the NCLEX will be way off. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. :) I also used Saunders when I was studying labs. Good luck!

Thank you all for replies. Now i feel much better

I have a question in regard to which measurement system to memorize for NCLEX...for example Magnesium is 1.3-2.1 mEq/L versus 1.6-2.6 mg/dL. I am starting to get confused between these systems and would so like to know if a person needs to know both. Thanks to anyone who can help me with this. :)