OT Memo

Lab values

By Tiffany Lai on 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.

Continue reading

About

Hi! My name is Tiffany. I’ve been a OT since 2016. I spent my first two years in a skilled nursing facility (SNF) and have worked in four different hospitals ranging from trauma, managed care, community and academic hospitals. I can empathize with the difficulty in learning how to be a therapist in an acute care setting as a student, the struggle of getting that first hospital job, and the learning curve once you are first hired at a hospital.

Continue reading