“Evidence based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of patients”
— Sackett
About Laboratory Tests
The physician uses laboratory tests to help identify changes in your health condition before any symptoms occur; diagnose a disease or condition before you have symptoms; plan a specific treatment for a disease or condition, evaluate the patients response to a treatment, or monitor the course of a disease over time.
Laboratory tests are medical procedures that involve testing samples of blood, urine, or other tissues or substances in the body.
- Laboratories perform tests on the sample to see if it reacts to different substances.
- Lab tests show whether or not the results fall within normal ranges.
- The information helps doctors decide whether other tests or procedures are needed to make a diagnosis or to develop or revise a previous treatment plan.
- All laboratory tests are interpreted within the context of the patients overall health.