Articles related to TESTING/LABS

Reducing unneeded lab work in the hospital setting is a monumental task. It is a kind of security blanket, and it is automated in many EMRs. For clinicians, seeing that lab values are stable can be a reassurance while waiting for treatment to take effect. And everyone has their story of the one patient for whom a change in routine daily labs prompted urgent intervention.

The CBC, ordered hundreds of millions of times a year in the US alone, typically reports 19 different values, some of which are redundant and inconsequential. These authors suggest three distinct CBCs. [Subscription Required]