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New Online Lab Test Site for Consumers Debuts
Lab Tests Online is now available to provide consumers with news and easy-to-understand information on a comprehensive array of lab tests and related health topics. The noncommercial, peer-reviewed site is collaboratively produced by five professional clinical laboratory societies and is intended to increase public awareness and understanding of laboratory testing.
The site has a library of analyte descriptions that have been written for the health care consumer. Each description provides details on the sample and substance being tested, how the test is used, when it is ordered, and what the results mean. Other relevant information, such as interference caused by various medications and herbal remedies, is also included. The site will be continuously updated with news-related items so that consumers can link from an analyte of interest to the most current information.
"This website will be a great resource for patients and their families to better understand the laboratory tests that their doctors have ordered," says Roberta Carey, Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory at Loyola University Medical Center in Chicago, Ill. "The site is a work in progress and serves as a hub to link to websites with more details. This exposure should be very positive for microbiology since the work done behind the scenes by trained laboratory professionals is rarely acknowledged. Now a patient will find out what happens to that swab or the blood that was collected.
"In a busy office practice, the physician may not have the time to explain how the specimen will be collected and what the results mean. The site will provide basic information about common laboratory tests, including some microbiology tests, such as throat cultures, gram stains, tests to detect sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, and hepatitis," says Carey, who represents ASM and microbiology interests on the site's editorial review board. Members of the editorial board began working on the site in January, convening for weekly teleconferences on content development.
George Linzer of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) serves as executive producer for the site. Organizations other than ASM that participate are the American Clinical Laboratory Association (ACLA), the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS), and the Clinical Laboratory Management Association (CLMA). The site is sponsored by Abbott Laboratories, Bayer Diagnostics, Beckman Coulter, Dade Behring, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, and Roche Diagnostics.
"The key message to the collaborating partners is that Lab Tests Online is their website. It belongs to the lab community and needs the help of community members to get the word out," Linzer says.
Countertop and wall-mounted displays are available for increasing public awareness. The displays have pockets containing flyers that describe the features of the site and how patients can use it. Requests for displays, including shipping address and phone number, can be sent to labtestsonline@aacc.org .
Barbara Hyde
Barbara Hyde is the ASM Communications Director.
Email: webmaster@asmusa.org