Kidney School™—a program of Medical Education Institute, Inc.

Module 7—Understanding Kidney Lab Tests

Personal Action Plan

It's time to wrap up this module on understanding kidney lab tests. But before we do, we want to give you a Personal Plan to help you get a start on some of the most important ideas in this module. We suggest you print this page and put it in a notebook so you can look back at it and ask your health care team questions.

My Goal

I will learn the name of each lab test, what it measures, and why it's important to my health.

My Incentive

I will be able to better manage my kidney disease so I can enjoy the highest possible quality of life and be able to read my lab reports with more confidence.

I will use this Personal Plan lab test reference guide by:

  • Asking my doctor, nurse, and dietitian to review the target range for each test to make sure it is right for my needs.
  • Asking someone from my health care team to review the results of each lab test with me.
  • Writing down the results of each lab test so that I can see my progress over time.
  • Asking questions I might have about any score outside my target range, such as:
    • What might be causing my score to be out of the target range?
    • What can be done to bring it back into the target range?
    • Are there any specific things I can do to help improve this score?

By taking an active role in monitoring my lab results, I will be able to manage my kidney disease more effectively.

The following PDFs show the lab test family charts from this module. I can print the PDFs as many times as I need to, and take them with me to my appointments so I can write down my lab test results. I can discuss the charts, and any questions I may have, when I meet with a member of my health care team.

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