Home Testing

Home testing offers many benefits - convenience, privacy, control, but it's also important to recognize the potential tradeoffs between quality and convenience and take steps to protect yourself against unapproved tests, the possibility of false results, and your own lack of training.

In the laboratory or at the bedside, nurses and biomedical scientists must undergo training in the testing procedure, and any instrument used needs to perform the test is properly  and needs to be maintained and it’s quality monitored. Home tests can be used to screen for, diagnose or monitor disease. Many home tests are available over the counter (OTC) in local supermarkets or pharmacies or directly from manufacturers by Internet, phone, or mail order.

Examples of these include:

• cholesterol, for assessing risk of heart disease;
• glucose, for monitoring diabetes;
• INR to monitor the effects of warfarin therapy;
• drugs to test for the presence of illegal drugs and drugs of abuse;
• hCG, to screen for pregnancy;
• faecal occult blood, to screen for bowel cancer; and
• luteinising hormone (LH), to predict ovulation

Most home tests, like those used for pregnancy testing, produce immediate results. Others tests are sold as collection devices for you use the device to collect a specimen (for example, urine or stool) and then mail the device containing the sample to the laboratory for measurement. Although home tests are convenient, they may not be the best of final step in diagnosis or monitoring. Errors can arise because of how the sample is collected, the time of day of collection, how accurately you time the test, or the impact of drugs and tablets you may be taking. Yet these tests, especially those designed to monitor diseases like diabetes, are important to your quality of life particularly if you live with chronic illness. Home glucose testing, for example, allows you to monitor your blood sugar level and adjust diet or medication accordingly. It is important that you take steps to make sure the home tests you use give reliable results.