Understanding Your Tests

Like many areas in medicine, clinical lab testing often provides few simple answers to commonly asked questions. The issues - on topics like insurance reimbursement and reference ranges - can be very complex. While we can't offer the kinds of short, easy answers that we seem to be accustomed to in this information age, we have attempted, in the following articles, to break down the issues in a way that will help you to ask the appropriate questions of your doctor.

Reference Ranges and What They Mean
Test results are usually interpreted based on their relation to a reference range. This article will help to explain what a reference range is, what it isn't, and why test results and references ranges should not be interpreted together in a vacuum.

How Reliable is Laboratory Testing?
Laboratory tests drive a large part of the clinical decisions our doctors make about our health, from diagnosis through therapy and prognosis. Given the crucial role that test data play in medical decision-making, we prepared this article to help you understand the key concepts and practices that are involved in making laboratory tests reliable.

Pharmacogenomics
Pharmacogenomics is the study of how drugs are metabolised in the body and the variations in the genes that produce the metabolizing enzymes. By studying the genes that produce the specific enzymes that metabolise a drug that is to be prescribed, a doctor may decide to raise or lower the dose, or even to use a different drug. The decision about which drug to prescribe may also be influenced by other drugs the patient is taking and soavoid interactions between drugs.

Home Testing
As health care consumers continue to seek more convenience, particularly among chronic sufferers and the elderly, the home testing market is growing rapidly. Here's a glimpse at the market and the opportunities as well as the trade offs.

Coping with Test Pain, Discomfort, and Anxiety
Nobody particularly enjoys having their blood collected or providing a urine or stool sample, but a medical test conducted on a small sample collected from your body can give your doctor information that can help save or improve the quality of your life. This series of articles has some tips on how to approach the experience more positively and with less stress. Other titles in the series include Tips on Blood Testing, Tips for Children, and Tips for the Elderly.

Test Preparation: Your Role
One of the most important factors in determining the accuracy and reliability of your laboratory test is you, the patient. This brief article explains your role in the process and ways in which you may need to prepare for your lab tests.