Understanding Laboratory Investigations

Chris Higgins worked for 16 years as a medical laboratory senior office. He now works as a freelance writer, and has written a series of articles for both the Nursing Times and the British Journal of Nursing.

Reviews of previous editions:"This is a really useful book for midwives. I expected it to be a textbook which I could recommend to students—and indeed that is true. However, when I picked this up I realised how useful it can be qualified staff, no matter how familiar the topics may be to those in practice ... . I would recommend this for any team or ward reference library." (Practising Midwife, January 2009)"If you have not come across this book before then I would certainly recommend this new improved edition." (Heather Jarman in Accident and Emergency Nursing, Volume 15, 2007)

• Preface viiAcknowledgements viiiPart 1 Introduction 11 Introduction to Clinical Laboratories 32 Some Principles of Laboratory Testing 13Part 2 Clinical Biochemistry Tests 313 Blood Glucose and HbA1c 334 Plasma/Serum Sodium and Potassium 545 Plasma/Serum Urea and Creatinine; and e-GFR 756 Plasma/Serum Calcium and Phosphate 907 Arterial Blood Gases 1088 Plasma/Serum Cholesterol and Triglycerides 1349 Cardiac Markers – Troponin, Creatine Kinase (MB) and Brain Natriuretic Peptide (BNP) 14810 Tests of Thyroid Function – Thyroxine (T4), Triiodothyronine (T3) and Thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) 16011 Liver Function Tests: Alanine Transferase (ALT), Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT), Alkaline Phosphatase (AP), Bilirubin and Albumin 17612 Plasma/Serum Amylase 19613 Drug Overdose: Paracetamol and Salicylate 20514 Therapeutic Drug Monitoring: Lithium, Digoxin and Theophylline 215Part 3 Haematology Tests 22515 Full Blood Count – 1: Red Blood Cell Count, Haemoglobin and Other Red Cell Indices 22716 Full Blood Count – 2: White Cell Count and Differential 24317 Tests of Haemostasis: Platelet Count, Prothrombin Time (PT), Activated Partial Thromboplastin Time (APPT), Thrombin Time (TT) and D-dimer 25518 Laboratory Investigation of Anaemia: Serum Iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity, Serum Ferritin, Serum B12 and Folate 27419 Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) and Plasma C-Reactive Protein (CRP) 290Part 4 Blood Transfusion Testing 29920 Blood Group, Antibody Screen and Crossmatch 301Part 5 Microbiology Testing 32321 Urine Microscopy, Culture and Sensitivity (M,C&S) 32522 Blood Culture 339Part 6 Screening Tests 35323 Newborn Screening Blood Tests 35524 Cervical Screening Test 37025 Dipstick Testing of Urine 384Glossary of Some Terms used in Laboratory Medicine 395Abbreviations 400Appendix: Adult Reference Ranges 402Alphabetical Index of Tests 405Index 407