Aimlessly wandering through lab values

[Uberman]

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It seems like every time a get a question that has a laundry list of lab values that I have to go through to find out which are abnormal I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking through the drop down reference values. I there a method to the madness...can't figure out how they lay out the labs. I feel like a lost child wandering through a crowd. Often I can't find the lab I'm looking for at all. Should I memorize the layout or just memorize the ranges so I save time. Time is something I never have enough of on these exams. I think I had this same problem with step I. Any advice on this would be great.

 

[wylie313]

how long have you been doing questions for? i know that i was the same way when i started , but the more questions you do, the more the lab values will stick in your head, and at the end of your prep, youll literally just scan the lab values knowing exactly what to look for, rather than finding something abnormal incidentally. good luck!

 

[Rogue_Leader]

Sodium
Potassium
Chlorine
Bicarb
BUN
Creatinine
Glucose (including glucose intollarance and diabetes criterion)
A1C
Calcium (don't forget how to correct the Ca level)
Magnesium
Phosphorus
Albumin
ALT
AST
Alk Phos
T. Bili
D. Bili
INR
PT
PTT
Amylase
Lipase
WBC (with differential)
Hct
Hgb
Platelets
MCV
TSH (Not worth memorizing T3 and T4 levels, since TSH is what will be most often in the problem statement)
B12
Folate
LDL
HDL

For the USMLE, these lab values will the ones which come up the most often, and will help to have memorized; odds are that you already know most of them. And even then, you don't need to have it specifically memorized, but be able to have a sense of when something is abnormal. Like it's not so important to know that the textbook ALT range is 7-40 U/L, but rather be able to identify that an ALT in the 100's is definitely abnormal.

 

[cabruen]

Also, besure to quickly read what the question is actually asking at the bottom. I remember about 50% of the time you could answer the question without even looking at the lab values.

 

[hkerati]

I think with practice you get to memoraize them.

 

[AlternateSome1]

Also, besure to quickly read what the question is actually asking at the bottom. I remember about 50% of the time you could answer the question without even looking at the lab values.

I agree completely. Half the time you expect to need to figure out what the person has, but once you waste time going through the labs, they tell you the diagnosis on the last line and ask a random question.