Lab values to study Pre nursing school

[krltdy]

Hi all! Hopefully I will be starting NS this July, and I wanted to study Med. Term., and lab values. I have no idea which lab values to study! There are so many! Does anyone have any suggestions? Thanks so much for any input you're able to give!

[AugustRain]

Those are good choices, since they're not dependent on other info to start studying. As for labs, some of the big ones are WBC, platelets, hemoglobin & hematocrit, BUN, creatinine, PT, PTT, serum electrolytes, albumin, and arterial blood gas values (pH, PaCO2, HCO3). Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head that keep reappearing.

For med term, try to look at roots, prefixes, and suffixes - if you understand those, you can usually figure out a word you've never heard before. You may want to try a book with quizzes, instead of buying the pre-made notecards.

Also, it doesn't hurt to look at some basic med math calcs before you start.

Good luck! July will be here before you know it!

[J9G2008]

I wouldn't worry too much about labs right now...there's plenty of time to worry about those later! What I would focus on is some basic pharmacology, medical terminology (if you've had A&P this should be just a refresher) and normal ranges for things like pulse, respirations, blood pressure, blood sugar, etc. My school uses a "module" system, which lays out how the semester will go. If you could get your hands on those over the summer and start reading, you may feel more confident going in.

[robert2010]

In addition to to those, potassium, calcium. sodium, magnesium, phosphorus, their normal ranges and what the affect if they low and high. I'm finishing nursing 2 and you will see this on every other test. I you can handle focusing on this and on the pre-reqs, why not? don't limit yourself. I wish I had study all these and the other lab values before nursing program.

[krltdy]

Thanks so much everyone! I've checked out Saunders Nclex Comp. Review to go over the lab values, and Math for Meds from my library. Think I'll do an internet search for med. term.. Again, thanks!

[missninaRN]

Though it sounds like a good idea, I just want to point out that your school's lab values may not be exactly the same at the ones you memorize now. The hospital where I work doesn't even use the exact same values as I learned in school. They are just enough different to be confusing!

I think med terminology would be great to work on, but would leave the labs until I'm learning about them in school.

Just my 2 cents.

[robert2010]

It is goid that you reviewing math, althought in the nursing program you really have to practice working out the problems, sometimes the problems look so easy and you choose not to practice and that is where alot of students fail. If you dont work out the problem it will bite you in the tail. Also another good nclex book besides Saunders is the Hurst Nclex Review it has lots of tables for nursing in the simplest form and it also has a "pharmachology in a nutshell" chapter, it is awesome for the nursing program!!!!

[Stearnsy]

Different facilities, your textbooks, and people you ask will all give you different answers in terms of what normals are for various lab values. I would perhaps try to remember "ballpark" values, zeroing in on the exact values when you know what they are for sure.

Better yet, read about what the lab values indicate and mean to the patient's health status; I wish I knew more about this before I entered school.

[prudence09]

Electrolytes, electrolytes, electrolytes. That is something that u will always need to know. Just remember that all textbooks will vary in their lab values. Even when you get into the hospital for clinical they may have different lab levels. All textbook and hospitals are different so when you realize that, don't think the lab levels you know are wrong .