![]() Patient identifiers (name, date of birth, hospital ID number) are extremely important since a busy lab can receive hundreds to thousands of specimens each day. The process begins when the clinician orders the lab test on a specimen (blood, urine, stool, tissue, body fluid), and it is received in the lab. Larger hospitals or health systems may do most of their testing in-house whereas smaller labs may use a reference lab to perform their testing. The major departments found in a clinical lab include hematology, chemistry, microbiology, coag, blood bank, serology or immunology, and toxicology. Laboratory tests range from the basic tests such as a urinalysis or complete blood count (CBC) to the very complex like genetic testing to diagnose inherited diseases. The clinical laboratory scientist (CLS) has extensive training in lab medicine, but their contribution to the entire healthcare team caring for a patient is frequently underestimated and not well-understood. The clinical lab is involved in both the improvement of patient quality of care and helping to constrain long-term medical costs. Lab testing allows for early detection and diagnosis of diseases, which leads to more individualized treatment plans for each patient. It is responsible for greater than 70% of medical diagnoses and decisions made by physicians each year. ![]() The clinical laboratory is the heart of any hospital or healthcare system. ![]()
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