By Tiffany Lai July 17, 2023
When I was trying to break into acute care, I remember having the impression that knowing lab values was the most significant difference between working in a SNF vs a hospital, which was an oversimplification of the truth.
While lab values are important in acute care, most therapists don’t memorize these lab values. Most hospital charting programs will actually flag abnormal values for you. Over time, what does happen is the therapist will start to recognize what lab values are important to check for what diagnoses and he/she will start to remember the lower or upper limits naturally.
(To start, it may be helpful to memorize the most commonly checked lab values: hemoglobin and hematocrit.)
As a new therapist to acute care, it may be more helpful to know how abnormal labs may impact your therapy session rather than memorizing numbers.
- Low platelets - higher risk of bleeding
- Low hgb/hematocrit - orthostatic hypotension, dizziness
- Low sodium - impaired cognition, orthostatic hypotension
- High sodium - impaired cognition
- Low calcium - impaired cognition
- Low phosphate - impaired cognition
- Low WBC/ANC - neutropenic precautions, risk of infection
- Troponin (trend is biggest factor) - increasing levels may indicate unresolved heart issues
For a more indepth look at lab values, here is a fantastic resource.