The results of most common blood tests are available within a day or 2. Some blood tests may take longer than this. Ask your doctor when your results are likely to be ready and whether they will contact you about the result. They may recommend a follow-up appointment to discuss your results.
If a result is sufficiently abnormal to cause any immediate medical concerns the doctor will contact you themselves. If a doctor wants to discuss a test result where there is no significant level of concern, they may ask reception to book you in for a routine telephone call.
Blood test results
Some test results will be ready the same day or a few days later, although others may not be available for a few weeks. You'll be told when your results will be ready and how you'll be given them. Sometimes, receiving results can be stressful and upsetting.
Non-urgent tests might be placed on the next available routine run which can be on the same or the following day. Typically, your pathology results can be expected within 2-3 days. Urgent tests may in some cases take only a few minutes to process, with results available within 24 hours.
You may need more tests, new medication or a change to your medication. If your results show an urgent concern, you will be contacted quickly. Sometimes your health professional may decide that – taking into account what is already known about your health – no further action is needed.
Results may be delayed if the sample is inadequate (not enough blood) or is contaminated, or if the blood cells were destroyed for some reason before reaching the lab. Some tests require you to fast (stop eating) for a certain period of time, usually eight hours.
Planning treatments is a major reason that doctors request follow-up appointments to discuss the results of your bloodwork. The discovery of a chronic condition may prompt your doctor to begin a regime of medication, which requires an in-person visit, a script, and a discussion about dosing and side effects.
The results of tests can only be given to you by your doctor. Reception and nursing staff are not authorised to discuss patient results over the phone or in person.
A CBC can identify conditions including anemia, heart disease, autoimmune disease, leukemia, and other cancers. A Basic Metabolic Panel (BMP) checks kidney function, lung function, and blood sugar levels by testing blood filtration, blood sugar, and electrolyte levels.
Blood tests are very common. They are ordered by healthcare providers to: Find out how well organs such as your kidneys, liver, heart, or thyroid are working. Help diagnose diseases such as cancer, diabetes, coronary heart disease, and HIV/AIDS.
A blood test is typically composed of three main tests: a complete blood count, a metabolic panel and a lipid panel.
Blood tests known as 'inflammatory markers' can detect inflammation in the body, caused by many diseases including infections, auto-immune conditions and cancers. The tests don't identify what's causing the inflammation: it might be as simple as a viral infection, or as serious as cancer.
Ask for a printed copy of the results.
Ask that it be posted or emailed to you, or even faxed to you. You may want to ask the person who handles your testing paperwork to make a notation before you are tested so that they will know to provide the information even before you remind them.
Results filed as SATISFACTORY may be very slightly above or below normal values for blood tests or in the case of scans and x-rays have very slight variations in how things should look. However in the context of the overall clinical picture they can be regarded as normal.
Blood tests
But liver function tests can be normal at many stages of liver disease. Blood tests can also detect if you have low levels of certain substances, such as a protein called serum albumin, which is made by the liver. A low level of serum albumin suggests your liver is not functioning properly.
Your healthcare professional will phone you at your appointment time. The clinician delivering the appointment will call you as close as possible to your appointment time.
Telemedicine flexibilities regarding prescription of controlled medications as were in place during the COVID-19 public health emergency include: A practitioner can prescribe a controlled substance to a patient using telemedicine, even if the patient isn't at a hospital or clinic registered with the DEA.
Full blood count (FBC)
This can help give an indication of your general health, as well as provide important clues about certain health problems you may have. For example, an FBC may detect signs of: iron deficiency anaemia or vitamin B12 deficiency anaemia. infection or inflammation.
Borderline. Take no action – This means that the doctor has looked at the result and deemed it to be just outside of the normal range and the result is not concerning. Abnormal, but expected.
If a doctor asks you to have a repeat test it is usually because: The result was borderline or unclear – so the doctor wants another sample to monitor the situation or to re-check. The result is abnormal – and the doctor is unable to interpret the result without further tests, so has asked you to come in for more tests ...
When you are ill, but your tests results are 'normal', it may be that the right tests were not done, the tests may not be interpreted properly, or what is going on is not easily detected through testing and a different method needs to be used.
Sometimes an "A" flag on your lab results stands for "adjusted". Adjusted lab results are results that were incorrect and have been re-run by the lab. An "A" flag may also represent the word "abnormal", indicating a lab result that falls out of the reference range.