The Nurse Practitioner Mentor Blog
Learn. Grow. Simplify Your NP Practice.
Weekly blog posts with practical tips, clinical pearls, and real-world guidance for new nurse practitioners in primary care.
How to read a CMP without feeling overwhelmed
A comprehensive metabolic panel has 14 values, but you do not have to read them one at a time. The simplest approach is to check for anything critical first, then look at the results in a few related groups instead of top to bottom. That is what turns a ...
How to read a CBC without missing anything
The safest way to read a CBC is to look for anything dangerous first, then work through the white cells, the red cells, and the platelets, and always read the numbers against the patient in front of you. Going value by value from the top of the panel is how...
A patient's labs come back with a mild bump in ALT or AST, and they feel fine. This shows up constantly in primary care. The job is to sort hepatocellular vs cholestatic patterns, rule out the dangerous causes, and decide when to refer. Here's a workflow you can actually use in clinic.
What the num...
A patient says they're tired, cold, and their hair is falling out. Or wired, losing weight, and not sleeping. Thyroid is on the list, but the symptoms are vague and you've got 15 minutes.
Here's a clinic-friendly way to triage the symptoms, order the right labs, and read the results fast.
What symp...
A TSH lands in your inbox and you need to know what it's really telling you. Before you can read the labs, it helps to have the basic wiring straight in your head.
Here's the quick version of the thyroid axis and the causes of hypo- and hyperthyroidism you'll actually see in clinic.
How does the th...
Iron-deficiency anemia is common in early childhood and usually silent. Universal screening catches kids before learning and behavior take a hit.
Universal vs selective screening
Universal screening is recommended.
- All children: screen once at 9 to 12 months.
- If a child is on iron-fortified formul ...
A patient's lipid panel comes back, the LDL is elevated, and you have about ten minutes to decide whether this needs a statin, a recheck, or just lifestyle counseling. Here's how to make that call quickly and document it cleanly.
Dyslipidemia vs. hyperlipidemia: the terms
- Dyslipidemia is the broad ...
