Additional Patient Resources

Lab Tests Online-UK is designed to help you, the patient or caregiver, understand the what, why, and how of laboratory testing. To access the primary resources on this website, you can go to the full listings below:

Test Index

Conditions Index

Screenings Index

News Article Index

Glossary Index

In-depth Feature Articles

To learn more about laboratory medicine in general and gain a greater understanding of how laboratory testing can impact your healthcare, read the following in-depth articles. These patient resources are intended to help you navigate the testing process, provide context for the tests that you may have done and give you a better understanding of your test results.

Why identification is important

For all pathology tests it is very important that your identity is confirmed before someone takes the sample. For example, directly after a blood test is taken, the blood sample should be labelled by the collector, with your correct details...

Tips to Help the Elderly through Their Medical Tests

Overview What seems like a simple medical test to the average adult can be significantly more challenging to the elderly person whose health is more frail. Here are a few reasons to take extra care when an older person requires a medical test. This...

Tips to Help Children through Their Medical Tests

Overview Much less routine testing is required for children than for adults, but there are times when children need medical tests and a helping hand through them. A caring adult can help the child cope with any physical pain or discomfort as well as...

Tips on Blood Testing

Overview Most routine laboratory tests require a blood sample. Common as it is, this brief procedure is the test people tend to have the most worries about. There are two main problems really: 1) the physical one, enduring the needle and 2) the...

Follow That Sample: A Short Lab Tour

For you as the patient, the "laboratory test" that has been requested by your doctor may require you to have a sample of blood taken from a vein in your arm, or to give a sample of urine, a swab from your throat or another sample of body fluid or...

Laboratory Methods

Laboratories use a variety of methodologies to test the countless analytes that are of interest to the medical community. Understanding the method used for a test provides a broader context for understanding your test results. Below are links to...

Where Lab Tests Are Performed

Today, laboratory testing is performed in many different settings, from the large, highly automated central laboratory that performs thousands of tests a day to your own home, where you might do a pregnancy test or monitor your blood glucose levels...