Renal (Kidney) Failure Labs
You're watching a preview. 300,000+ students are watching the full lesson.
Included In This Lesson
Study Tools For Renal (Kidney) Failure Labs
NURSING.com students have a 99.25% NCLEX pass rate.
Outline
Overview
- Renal failure
- Labs to consider for disease process
- Lab purposes
- Special Considerations
Nursing Points
General
- Renal failure
- Labs to consider for disease process
- BUN/Creatinine
- Creatinine Clearance
- Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR)
- Comprehensive metabolic panel
- Complete blood count
- Cultures
- Drug levels
- Biopsies
- Imaging
- Lab purposes
- BUN/Creatinine
- Essential renal panel
- Checks kidney function
- Creatinine clearance
- Compares serum creatinine to amount of creatinine cleared by kidneys
- Glomerular filtration rate
- Determines specific kidney injury or damage
- Determines efficacy of kidney filtration
- Comprehensive metabolic panel
- Liver function
- Electrolyte balance
- Complete blood count
- Infection/Inflammation
- Anemia
- Cultures
- Urine culture
- Indicates UTI
- Cause of renal infection
- Blood cultures
- Indicates systemic infection affecting kidneys
- Urine culture
- Drug levels
- Some drugs are nephrotoxic
- Modified drug levels may be necessary
- Biopsies
- Used to determine specific cause of injury or illness
- Imaging
- Non-invasive means to look at kidney architecture
- BUN/Creatinine
- Special Considerations
- BUN/Creatinine
- Green top
- Creatinine clearance
- Compares Creatinine (serum)
- Green top
- With urine creatinine
- 24 hour urine
- On ice
- Discard first sample
- 24 hour urine
- Compares Creatinine (serum)
- Comprehensive metabolic panel
- Green top
- Complete blood count
- Lavender top
- Cultures
- Blood
- Aerobic/Anaerobic blood culture jars
- Urine
- Urine collection cup
- Blood
- Drug levels
- Serum usually – will vary per facility
- Biopsies & Imaging
- Will vary per facility
- Will vary per patient need
- Will vary per provider order
- BUN/Creatinine
- Labs to consider for disease process
Nursing Concepts
- Elimination
- Fluid & Electrolyte Balance
- Lab Values
Unlock the Complete Study System
Used by 300,000+ nursing students. 99.25% NCLEX pass rate.
- Full lesson outlines
- NCLEX simulator (SIMCLEX)
- 6,500+ practice questions
- 2,000+ lesson videos
- 300+ cheatsheets
200% NCLEX Pass Guarantee.
No Contract. Cancel Anytime.
Transcript
All right in this lesson we’re going to take a look at Labs that you’ll probably see for your patients who have renal failure.
Like some of the other lessons that you may have seen this lesson and others focus on the different types of labs that you may run into depending on the type of disease, or illness, or injury that a patient may have. This list is not all inclusive, what the purpose is to really focus on giving you guys some sort of idea of the types of labs are groups in Labs that you may see for your patient.
In this lesson we’re really going to focus on the types of labs that you would use for your patient that may have renal failure. Renal failure is a very common admission into the hospital, and the goals and usually are to find out if there’s a problem before the kidneys, and the kidneys or after the kidneys. That’s what we call prerenal, intrarenal, or post renal. The goal here is to develop a plan of care based on the types of results that you’re getting from your Labs on your patient
So like I said this is not an all-encompassing list, but these are the most common types that you’re going to see.
BUN & creatinine focus primarily on kidney function, as well as creatinine clearance. Also you’ll use lab tests like the glomerular filtration rate, and that’s more specific to the kidney. You also take a look at your patient’s comprehensive metabolic panel, including a complete blood count and potentially cultures. The other thing you’ll have to keep in mind our drug levels as some of the medications that your patient may be on could be toxic to the kidneys. Also it’s not uncommon to see biopsies performed or even some Imaging and we’ll go into all of that.
The main focus of checking kidney function is by using the two tests BUN, which is blood urea nitrogen, and creatinine. Both of these are very specific to the kidney, in addition to get a test called creatinine clearance. Important thing that you need to know about the creatinine clearance is that it’s both a serum and a urine test, so you’ll submit both is blood sample and a urine sample. The thing about the urine sample is that it’s a 24-hour urine. If you seen any of the lessons on creatinine, you’ll know that creatinine in the urine is a 24-hour test . So the thing that you need to remember is that you need to place the urine on ice, and also the most important part is you have to discard the first urine sample. Allow the patient avoid then get rid of that sample, and start collecting urine for the next 24 hours after that.
More specific test that indicate kidney function is going to be the glomerular filtration rate, or GFR. There’s a great lesson on GFR, and I encourage you to check that out. But basically the gist of it is that it indicates a percentage of functional kidney. You’re also going to do things like a comprehensive metabolic panel which is going to take a look at other organs like liver function, and protein. Both of those are important to kidney function. The other thing you’ll pay attention to our your electrolytes on your patients metabolic panel.
Another test you’re probably going to see if the complete blood count which were looking for infection or anemia since the kidneys are responsible for the production of epo or erythropoietin.
You’re also going to want to pay attention to any types of cultures that you may run. If there is some concern for some sort of systemic infection, or if there is concern for urinary tract infection, it’s not uncommon or cultures on these samples.
One thing that you going to need to be mindful of is if your patients on any drugs that potentially are toxic to the kidneys and they already have some sort of kidney impairment. They’re not going to be able to filter out those drugs is well or some drugs even may be damaging to the kidneys. You may also need to talk to your provider about adjusting the dose because they don’t have the same kidney function than a normal patient has.
Sometimes you’re patient may have to undergo a kidney biopsy or they may have to undergo some sort of Imaging like a CT scan or a kidney ultrasound, which helps to identify the structure of the kidney and if there’s any problems anatomically with it.
So what do you need to be thinking about whenever you’re getting these labs for your patient?
Well first off your bun, creatinine, and metabolic panel are all going to go in your green top tube.
Any cultures that you do are going to be specific to that type of test. So urine culture is going to go in a urine collection cup and if you’re doing blood culture is you’re going to have to get the blood sample and goes into your blood culture jars.
Drug levels are going to be more specific, and you’re going to need to ask your facility on what the policy is.
For your complete blood count that one goes in a lavender top tube because it’s got the EDTA in it.
If you need to do any Imaging on your patient or the provider needs to get biopsies just asked what the facility policy is so that you can make that process smooth for your patient
The nursing concepts for patient has renal failure look at lab values, because we focus on our patients ability to eliminate and also we pay attention to the fluid and electrolyte balance for them
So let’s recap.
For patients with renal failure we really focus on BUN and creatinine. They are specific to the kidneys and you also need to consider maybe a creatinine clearance for your patient.
The GFR, or the glomerular filtration rate indicates the percentage of the kidney damage that’s occurring.
When you’re looking at your metabolic panels, you’re looking at your overall organ function plus any electrolytes. This is important for your patient because sometimes a liver can be impacted as well as having an electrolyte imbalance.
If there’s some sort of suspicion that there is an infection going on, don’t be surprised if you get cultures on your patient
And finally biopsies and imaging can be really beneficial to your patient especially if they’re in an early stage of kidney failure, so that you can identify the cause of what’s going on and to help plan their care
That’s it for a lesson on Labs that you’ll do for your patients if they have renal failure.Make sure you check out all the resources attached to this lesson. Now, go out and be your best selves today. And, as always, happy nursing!!
Study Faster with Full Video Transcripts
99.25% NCLEX Pass Rate vs 88.8% National Average
- Full lesson outlines
- NCLEX simulator (SIMCLEX)
- 6,500+ practice questions
- 2,000+ lesson videos
- 300+ cheatsheets
200% NCLEX Pass Guarantee.
No Contract. Cancel Anytime.
Nursing School Doesn't Have To Be So Hard
Go from discouraged and stressed to motivated and passionate
Kaiser Ann Pajulas, USRN
Concepts Covered:
- Basics of Sociology
- Statistics
- Communication
- Fundamentals of Emergency Nursing
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Cardiac Disorders
- Emergency Care of the Cardiac Patient
- Medication Administration
- Gastrointestinal Disorders
- Pregnancy Risks
- Labor Complications
- Factors Influencing Community Health
- Respiratory Disorders
- Emergency Care of the Neurological Patient
- EENT Disorders
- Newborn Complications
- Documentation and Communication
- Preoperative Nursing
- Legal and Ethical Issues
- Adult
- Substance Abuse Disorders
- Hematologic Disorders
- Musculoskeletal Trauma
- Intraoperative Nursing
- Microbiology
- Disorders of Pancreas
- Oncology Disorders
- Anxiety Disorders
- Neurologic and Cognitive Disorders
- Personality Disorders
- Basics of NCLEX
- Studying
- Newborn Care
- Basics of Mathematics
- Note Taking
- Integumentary Disorders
- Emergency Care of the Trauma Patient
- Respiratory Emergencies
- Developmental Considerations
- Digestive System
- Lower GI Disorders
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Brain
- Postpartum Care
- Basic
- Infectious Respiratory Disorder
- Integumentary Disorders
- Eating Disorders
- Circulatory System
- Cardiovascular Disorders
- Test Taking Strategies
- Musculoskeletal Disorders
- EENT Disorders
- Postoperative Nursing
- Neurological Emergencies
- Cognitive Disorders
- Concepts of Population Health
- Community Health Overview
- Noninfectious Respiratory Disorder
- Delegation
- Depressive Disorders
- Terminology
- Postpartum Complications
- Vascular Disorders
- Nervous System
- Upper GI Disorders
- Renal and Urinary Disorders
- Developmental Theories
- Fetal Development
- Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders
- Prenatal Concepts
- Trauma-Stress Disorders
- Psychological Emergencies
- Adulthood Growth and Development
- Childhood Growth and Development
- Prenatal and Neonatal Growth and Development
- Renal Disorders
- Hematologic Disorders
- Liver & Gallbladder Disorders
- Tissues and Glands
- Disorders of Thermoregulation
- Urinary Disorders
- Urinary System
- Shock
- Labor and Delivery
- Oncologic Disorders
- Emotions and Motivation
- Peripheral Nervous System Disorders
- Bipolar Disorders
- Infectious Disease Disorders
- Immunological Disorders
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Disorders of the Thyroid & Parathyroid Glands
- Male Reproductive Disorders
- Central Nervous System Disorders – Spinal Cord
- Female Reproductive Disorders
- Acute & Chronic Renal Disorders
- Prioritization
- Somatoform Disorders
- Pediatric
- Perioperative Nursing Roles
- Concepts of Pharmacology
- Psychotic Disorders
- Concepts of Mental Health
- Neurological Trauma
- Health & Stress
- Respiratory System