Thought for 1m 17s
Study Guide
Essential Labs and Why They Guide Your First Moves
When a patient presents with cardiac or bleeding concerns, five laboratory values frame every decision you will make: WBC, Hgb/Hct, Platelets, Troponin, and D-dimer. WBC trends alert you to infection that could destabilize an already compromised heart; hemoglobin and hematocrit reveal whether oxygen delivery is threatened; platelets predict bleeding or clotting potential; troponin confirms or rules out myocardial injury; D-dimer tells you if fibrin is being actively digested somewhere in the body.
• Platelets: 150 – 400×10⁹/L <em>Bleed risk >450k: thrombocytosis</em>
12:00 PM