Liver Function Tests: Total Protein and Albumin – Blood Tests for Cholecystitis (Nursing)

00:01 Now let's look at total protein first.

00:03 We're going to look at total protein and albumin together, but I want to spend some time on total protein first.

00:10 So this measures the amount of, wait for it, total protein in the blood which is why it has its name.

00:17 Now when you're thinking about what are the proteins in the blood, there's two major groups we focus on, we've got albumin and globulin.

00:26 Now there's a third one, it's called fibrinogen.

00:30 You might want to write yourself a little note in the corner of fibrinogen.

00:32 It's the third group of major blood proteins, but we're really focusing on albumin and globulin.

00:40 The normal range is 6 to 8.3.

00:43 So we've got that value for you right there as a frame of reference in your notes.

00:48 Now, let's talk about albumin.

00:51 We group these together for you because total protein includes albumin specifically if we do an albumin level, we're going to see the total of albumin in the blood.

01:02 Now it can be decreased in times when the liver is just not functioning well.

01:08 The normal range is 3.4 to 5.4.

01:11 So we keep a very specific eye on albumin because it is the one in the intravascular space in your bloodstream that attracts sodium and therefore a water follows.

01:24 So albumin really helps our patient keep them out enough volume in their intravascular space to maintain an adequate blood pressure.

01:33 Okay. So the first things we think about in liver function test, total protein, and specifically we look at the albumin level.