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I hope you enjoyed your weekend. Today we’re going to showcase the lab values you’ll need to know for the NCLEX – these are the ‘main’ values you’ll need to know but there are others as well.
Serum Electrolytes
- Calcium: 8.5–10.9mg/L
- Chloride: 98-107
- Magnesium: 1.6-2.6 mg/dL
- Phosphorus:2.5–4.5mg/dL
- Potassium: 3.5-5.1
- Sodium: 135-145 mEq/L
Hematology Values
- RBC: 4.5–5.0million
- WBC: 5,000–10,000
- Platlets: 200,000–400,000
- Hemoglobin: 12–16 g/dL Women; 14–18 g/dL Men
- Hematocrit: 37 – 48% Women; 45 – 52% Men
Arterial Blood Gases (ABGs)
- pH: 7.35-7.45
- pCO2: 35-45 mEq/L
- HCO3: 24-26 mEq/L
- pO2: 80-100%
Chemistry Values
- Glucose: 70–110 mg/dL
- Specific gravity: 1.010–1.030
- BUN: 7–22m g/dL
- Serum creatinine: 0.6–1.35 mg/dL (< 2 in older adults)
- LDH: 100–190 U/L
- CPK: 21–232 U/L
- Uric acid: 3.5–7.5 mg/dL
- Triglyceride: 40–50 mg/dL
- Totalcholesterol:130–200 mg/dL
- Bilirubin: <1.0 mg/dL
- Protein: 6.2–8.1 g/dL
- Albumin: 3.4–5.0 g/dL
So how do you memorize these – here are some suggestions.
- Create your own flashcards – if you create them the creation process will help you to memorize them. After you have created them, review them every day, a few times in the morning and a few times in the evening until you know them. Then review them once a day so you won’t forget them.
- Write them down. Write them down on a sheet of paper again a few times in the morning and again in the evening.
- Here is a study set from quizlet – https://quizlet.com/425289/nclex-review-lab-values-flash-cards/
In a couple of days we’ll have some videos for you and some tests to make sure you know them (one note if you’re just in the memorization phase then you’ll want to make sure you know the values before you take the test.
