Question about nurses

[TrojanAnteater]

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are they trained to read and interpret various blood test results? I had one trying to do it today but not doing a very good job at it. In fact, i'm really uncomfortable about leaving any of this health info I have to get done to anyone other than the doc.

 

[NYCillini]

are they trained to read and interpret various blood test results? I had one trying to do it today but not doing a very good job at it. In fact, i'm really uncomfortable about leaving any of this health info I have to get done to anyone other than the doc.

Yes I would say most if not all RN's are trained to do so. In fact, you would be surprised how many disclipines can do this (pharmacists, dietitians, etc). However with labs it isn't always cut and dry. Lab results can be affected by several different factors and without understanding you as a whole it can be difficult to come to a conclusion. Take for example Albumin; it can be altered by hydration status, certain medications, liver disease, types of cancer, etc.

 

[TrojanAnteater]

Yes I would say most if not all RN's are trained to do so. In fact, you would be surprised how many disclipines can do this (pharmacists, dietitians, etc). However with labs it isn't always cut and dry. Lab results can be affected by several different factors and without understanding you as a whole it can be difficult to come to a conclusion. Take for example Albumin; it can be altered by hydration status, certain medications, liver disease, types of cancer, etc.

well thank the lord she wasn't interpreting them as a diagnosis. All she had to do was read the IgG titer levels and find "immune" or "not immune" to record on a sheet. But then again, the nurse or blood lab gave me the wrong Hep B immunity test in which a "negative" was a good outcome for that test, when the test I was suppose to get would have had a good answer of "positive." She thought the negative meant I didnt have HepB immunity, when in fact the negative means I didn't have the HepB Virus (researched all the HepB tests when I got home).

 

[imperial frog]

My wife has been a nurse for about 15 years and she tells me that you only learn the very basics in nursing school and the vast majority of what nurses do is picked up on the job. There tends to be a pretty good burnout rate the first couple of years because of this...they're thrown into the job and expected to hit the ground running after a few weeks of orientation...either they pick it up or they try to find a different career.

As far as reading the labwork, they are taught it but it doesn't become second nature to them for a while, especially if it's something that they don't do on a daily basis.

 

[aubieRx]

I was vaccinated for Hep B in 2000 and recently had my blood titer count come out "not good enough" (.3 rather than 1).

I had a nagging feeling that someone , somewhere had botched the job. 😀 I hinted at this at the nurses station and was assured the results were not subject to error.

Cause really, my immune system is good (i havent had a cold since 2003 ) and i see no reason why i would not be immune after the vaccination.

 

[NYCillini]

I was vaccinated for Hep B in 2000 and recently had my blood titer count come out "not good enough" (.3 rather than 1).

I had a nagging feeling that someone , somewhere had botched the job. 😀 I hinted at this at the nurses station and was assured the results were not subject to error.

Cause really, my immune system is good (i havent had a cold since 2003 ) and i see no reason why i would not be immune after the vaccination.

Maybe it was the vaccine. Vaccines are created from weakened or dead strains. Maybe yours was mostly dead and was not enough to boost your immune system.

 

[TrojanAnteater]

I was vaccinated for Hep B in 2000 and recently had my blood titer count come out "not good enough" (.3 rather than 1).

I had a nagging feeling that someone , somewhere had botched the job. 😀 I hinted at this at the nurses station and was assured the results were not subject to error.

Cause really, my immune system is good (i havent had a cold since 2003 ) and i see no reason why i would not be immune after the vaccination.

I know the HepB vaccine is a little unreliable... at least more than other regular vaccines. A nurse told me that there are ER nurses she knows who have had the HepB vaccine a couple times and still don't show immunity.

 

[aubieRx]

wow thats kinda scary to think i thought i was immune all this time and may not have been.

Is the bacterial meningitis vaccine more reliable?

 

[TrojanAnteater]

wow thats kinda scary to think i thought i was immune all this time and may not have been.

Is the bacterial meningitis vaccine more reliable?

Don't know about the meningitis vaccine. I wanted to get that before the start of college and had a big issue with getting permission from the doc to get it (I had my spleen out a couple years before) and it was a big hassle. Finally they approved me but i had to get it from the county somehow, so finally we just forgot about it. Thankfully USC offers it to their students so I'm going to get it once I start school.

 

[aubieRx]

i got bacterial meningitis before college. (the vaccine lol)

I read an article in a magaxzine about a girl who got it at college and had to have her limbs amputated so i was like , wow , im gettin that shot

 

[NYCillini]

You can always ask to have titers performed (they let you know that the vaccine has done it's job). As for mennigitits, it is no joke. That is how my roommate lost her hearing and has to wear hearing aids in both ears. The vaccine I believe lasts about 4-5 yrs and may be available free of charge at your student health center.

 

[aubieRx]

i prolly should get mine updated then since it was done in 2000ish.

I remember it was a shot in the fattier part of the arm which was nice

 

[TucsonDDS]

Speaking as a nurse of 10 years most nurses know the basics. We know that a K++ of 2.8 is bad and a hematocrit of 35 isn't anything to worry about. Most nurses could care less what a differencial looks like unless they are oncology nurses. I don't think that it is fair to judge a nurse that misreads a hepatitis panel when they look at them once every year or so. Now if it is this nurses job to determine whether or not you need a booster, then they should definitely know what they are looking at.

As far as the albumin question, an even bigger mistake that most nurses make is not knowing that Ca+ is linked to it and the values that you get in a renal panel can't be used. Many malnurished people (whether they have cancer, anorhexia or whatever) will spit out a value of 6.5 on their calcium. 9 out of 10 nurses will get all freaked out because this would be a "critical value" and call the docs. Then they walk around all day saying how the docs don't care when in reallity it is a scewed value because their albumin is so low. So yes, a lot of disease processes will affect the "normal" on lab values and most nurses don't necessarily know. This is why we have doctors, to interpret the results and order the appropriate medications.