Healthcare delivery is a complex system that involves many different disciplines and specialties, with care provided in a variety of settings. Consequently, healthcare providers must have an understanding and working knowledge of modalities beyond their own area of expertise. This includes diagnostic evaluation and diagnostic services.
Laboratory and diagnostic tests are tools to gain additional information about the patient’s illness. When used in conjunction with a thorough history and physical examination, these tests may identify and confirm a diagnosis or provide valuable information about a patient’s status and response to therapy that may not be apparent from the history and physical examination alone.
Table 1.1 lists the reasons for laboratory and diagnostic testing and examples of tests selected for each purpose. As an integral part of their practice, healthcare providers support patients and their family members in meeting the demands and challenges incumbent in the simplest to the most complex diagnostic testing. This testing begins before birth in the form of prenatal ultrasounds, genetic testing, and amniocentesis and frequently continues after death in the case of postmortem testing for evidentiary or forensic purposes, organ transplantation, or death reporting (autopsy).
The healthcare provider who provides diagnostic services must have basic requisite knowledge to plan patient care and an understanding of psychoneuroimmunology (effects of stress on health status). They must be able to make careful judgments and gather vital information about the patient and the testing process to diagnose appropriately within the parameters of the healthcare provider’s professional standards.
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