Need help with labs

nurse jen. . .i'm assuming you are talking about matching labs with medical diagnoses, not nursing diagnoses. if i am interpreting this incorrectly, please tell me. a few years ago, i purchased a book titled mosby's diagnostic and laboratory test reference, 4th edition, by kathleen d. pagana and timothy j. pagana. in it is an alphabetic listing of x-rays, ultrasounds, nuclear scans, blood tests, urines tests, sputum tests and microscopic exams of tissues. each test is explained, normal findings listed, indications for the test given, you are told how the test is performed, what diseases it will show, complications of the test or procedure, and any important patient care you need to know related to the test. one of the best features of this book is at the very end of each test listed is a listing of abnormal findings. with the lab tests there will be a list of medical diseases listed under the increased levels and under the decreased levels of the lab results. that, i think is probably the information you are looking for?

i do not know if this book is still in publication. perhaps you might find a copy of it in your school library. you can find some of this information on line, although not as thoroughly presented at some of these websites:

lab tests online http://www.labtestsonline.org/

web md index list of tests http://www.webmd.com/a_to_z_guide/medical_tests.htm

now, if you are talking about linking lab test results with nursing diagnoses--this is quite another issue.

nurse2b jen. . .the kind of information about lab tests for specific medical diseases that you might need to find is possible. you just need to know where to look for it. two weblinks to find this kind of information by medical conditions are:

• web md index list of medical conditions (once going to a medical disease page, look for a link to tests/exams ordered for that condition) http://www.webmd.com/a_to_z_guide/health_topics.htm
  
• family practice notebook (use search box to list the medical disease you are searching for) http://www.fpnotebook.com/index.htm

for the example you posed, you can find a list of the labs and other tests that would be ordered at webmd's site for their a to z list of medical conditions. here is a link to the page that links you into the tests and exams that would be ordered for congestive heart failure on this site:

http://www.webmd.com/hw/heart_failure/tp17541.asp

you should also be able to find this kind of information in a pathophysiology book used for a course such as survey of disease.

I have a lab and diagnostic book. The problem is that I don't even know where to begin to look. Like say if someone has CHF our instructors would ask what are your main labs you would be looking at? I don't even know where to begin. It's really tough to go through the lab book test for test and try to decide which labs are most pertinent when there are so many and I don't have the time to look at them all. I hope that helps clear up my thinking......our med surg book doesn't tell what labs go with what.

I also have the Mosby's book and love it. The night before clinicals we went to the facility to meet the patient, review their chart and copy the pts bloodwork results so then I used the book to help interpret possible reasons why something was high or low. In the beginning, that was a good starting point for me in recognizing the abnormalities that seemed likely to show up with the different dxs.