HESI Pathophysiology Review

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PREP TIPS

Your patho professors have prepared you very well. There is no reason to panic.

Think BIG picture concepts- do not go into the nitty gritty details that you would for a regular exam.

Get some sleep, eat breakfast, and take a deep breath beforehand. Better to have an extra 3 hours of sleep than 3 hours of studying.

Watch your time on the HESI if you are a slow test-taker. Read the question thoroughly.

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 Lab

Values

Make sure you are familiar with lab values.

Do try to memorize them but most importantly strive to understand why we look at them. Don’t need to know the specific

ranges down to the tenth- just know that a potassium of 10 is too high!

Ex. If a patient with a WBC count of 2,000/mm, is admitted to the unit. What signs should the nurse look out for?

a. Bleeding

b. Embolism

c. MI

d. Infection

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• WBC: 5-10 k WHITE has 5 letters, then double it.

• HIV/AIDS- CD4 T Cell count goes way down (<200 = diagnosis of AIDS)

• What is a patient at risk for if WBC are too low? What could you have if WBC too high?

• RBCs are measured in millions:

• RBC: 4-6 million

• Platelets: 150-400k- what happens if too low? Too high?

• Hgb: 12-18

• Hct: 40-50%- what happens if too high? Why would it be too low?

• Glucose 70-110- where will this # be in DKA+HHNKS (high or low)?

– DKA – 240; HHNKS - 600

• What hormones cause this to go up and down?

• Na: 135-145

• Potassium: 3.5-5 mEq/L (know this value and causes/manifestations of hypo/hyperkalemia- both S/S wise and on

the EKG)

– HYPERkalemia: peaked T Wave

– HYPOkalemia: U wave

• Ca: 8.5-10.

• Know how fluid overload or dehydration could cause electrolyte imbalances.

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