Albumin

1. I was working on my renal module and noticed that in the Nutrition and Diagnosis –Related Care book one of the Intervention Objectives for CKD and renal failure patients is an albumin of 4.0 g/dL. When I went to a dialysis center for Nutr 630 that was their goal too. However, in thinking about the albumin levels I have been seeing in the hospital that seems like a high standard to set. I have been seeing a lot of low albumin, in general, not necessarily in renal patients. One or 2 patients were even below 2.0 g/dL, and many seem to be in the 2 range. I guess that is to be expected, since often one of the reasons a patient is referred to the dietitians is because they have a low albumin. My hospital relies on albumin instead of prealbumin, though they did order a prealbumin for one of my patients. I am curious what the other hospitals use.

2. I just discovered the appendices in the Nutrition and Diagnosis Related Care book, and recommend taking a look if you haven’t already.