CE: Back to Basics: The Complete Blood Count.

In this latest article in the AJN series Back to Basics-developed to improve nurses' understanding and application of common laboratory diagnostic tests-the author delineates the meaning and function of complete blood count components, highlighting the important pathophysiological evidence they provide and using composite patient scenarios to assist nurses in recognizing findings that can inform their plan of care and produce the best patient outcomes.

Abnormal Basic Metabolic Panel Findings: Implications for Nursing.

In this article, the second in a new series designed to improve acute care nurses' understanding of laboratory abnormalities, the author continues her discussion of important values in the basic metabolic panel (see Back to Basics, January, for a discussion of sodium and fluid balance). Here she addresses the electrolytes potassium and chloride as well as blood urea nitrogen and creatinine, four values that are best considered together because they both reflect and impact renal function as well as acid-base homeostasis. Important etiology, clinical manifestations, and treatment concerns are also presented.

Concentration and Volume: Understanding Sodium and Water in the Body.

Nurses need to have a firm grasp of normal and pathophysiological mechanisms of sodium and water balance to fully understand assessment findings and establish a rationale for a patient's plan of care. While multiple mechanisms control sodium and water balance, antidiuretic hormone and aldosterone are the most important hormonal influences. This article, the first in a new series designed to improve nurses' understanding of the physiological abnormalities underlying many disorders, reviews the common etiologies and symptoms of hyponatremia and hypernatremia, as well as the role of nursing care in patients with imbalances of sodium and water.