Week 4 Blog #2

Week 4 January 25-31
Friday, January 29, 2016
4p-8p 4 Hours Interned
Saturday, January 30, 2016
2p-10p 8 Hours Interned
Sunday, January 31, 2016
2p-10p 8 Hours Interned


Objective #2:
2. Will verbally demonstrate knowledge of tests included in a CMP and CBC/diff including                  abnormalities, what disease process they might indicate and possible signs and symptoms            that the patient might demonstrate given these values.

       As indicated in my last post, the CMP test, tests 14 different types of components of your            blood as part of an individual’s routine blood-work in their physical. These 14 components            give the doctor info about an individuals kidney and liver function, electrolyte and acid/base          levels, and blood sugar and blood protein    levels. The following will describe a bit about the        14 components and what those blood samples indicate.

1.  Albumin – Protein made by the liver. Important for tissue growth and healing. Keeps the blood from leaking out of blood vessels. Related to liver function.

2. Blood Urea Nitrogen (BUN) – Measure the amount of nitrogen in your blood that comes from the waste product known as urea. Urea is made in the liver. This test is related to kidney function. Kidneys filter the blood and waste (urea) from one’s body. If there is an excess amount of urea in your blood stream, your kidneys are not proper functioning.

3. Calcium – Calcium in your blood shows the level of calcium that is not being stored in the bones. Calcium is a test to check for problems related to the parathyroid glands or kidneys.

4. Carbon Dioxide (Bicarbonate) – A gaseous waste product from metabolism. Blood carries bicarbonate to an individuals lungs to be expelled via exhalation. Test is performed to evaluate kidney function, metabolic conditions, and lung diseases.

5. Chloride – Most important electrolyte measured in the blood. It helps keep the amount of fluid inside and outside of our cells balanced, thus, maintaining a proper blood volume, blood pressure, and pH of body fluids. Test related to kidney and adrenal gland functions.

6. Creatinine – A waste product in our blood and urine. Creatine is broken down into creatinine (waste) via metabolism and cleared from the body through the blood and urine. Test is performed to evaluate kidney function.

7. Glucose – Blood sugar. Insulin is produced to maintain glucose levels in the blood. Test is performed to see how well an individuals pancreas can produce insulin.

8. Potassium – Electrolyte and mineral. Helps maintain water amount inside and outside of cells. Important to how nerves and muscles work. Test performed to determine kidney and adrenal gland functions.

9. Sodium – Electrolyte and mineral. Maintains fluid amount in and out of cell. Importnt in how nerved and muscles work. Test performed to check water and electrolyte balance in body and kidney and adrenal gland functioning.

10. Total Bilirubin – Found in bile when the liver breaks down old red blood cells and is removed via feces. Test performed to determine liver function.

11. Total Protein – Amount of protein in blood. Two componenets: Albumin and Globulin. Test performed to determine liver and kidney function.

12. Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) – Enzyme in the blood. Mainly found in the liver. Test performed to determine and liver damage.

13. Alkaline Phosphatase (ALP) – Enzyme in the blood. Mainly found in the liver. Test performed to check for liver disease or damage.

14. Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) – Enzyme in the blood. Mainly found in red blood cells, liver, heart, muscle tissue, pancreas, and kidneys. Test performed to check for liver damage or disease.

I know this was a lot to through at you and seemed very vague…. Due to the time constraint of this internship, I had to break down my objectives into components to keep up with my biweekly blogs. If I dumped all the info on you guys in one blog, I wouldn’t have anything else to post! So this was a rough breakdown as to why these components to the CMP test are important and what they are tested for. Next week I will go into better detail of each component of the CMP test, their values norms, abnormal values, and what the abnormal values can indicate related to the disease process.