A white count is the least interesting number on the panel. Type in a differential, a lactate and the organ markers — or load one of the five patients — and the panel reads back what each value means, what usually causes it and what you do about it. Watch what happens to the interpretation when the bands rise while the total count stays normal.
Load a patient
Enter the values
Two teaching cases, side by side
Which patient is more infected?
A white count of 9,000 with 18 percent bands is more infected than a white count of 14,000 with no bands. Bands are immature neutrophils the marrow releases under demand; more than about 10 percent of the differential is a left shift, and a left shift can be present while the total count is still perfectly normal. Load both patients above and compare the read-outs.
Erythrocyte sedimentation rate
Not on this panel because it is too slow to be useful acutely: men under 15 to 20 mm/hr, women under 20 to 30 mm/hr, slow to rise and slow to fall. It earns its place in chronic inflammation such as osteomyelitis, where you are following weeks rather than hours.