112 - Evidence-Based Laboratory reporting to clinicians
Autore/i: D. Giavarina
Rivista: RIMeL - IJLaM, Vol. 4, N. 3-S1, 2008 (MAF Servizi srl ed.)
Pagina/e: 112
The difference between an ‘Information’ and a ‘notice’ lies in the former’s ability to remove or significantly reduce someone’s uncertainty about something. In Laboratory Medicine, you have to know exactly how to ask a clinical question, i.e. what are you looking for, in order to get a plausible answer. A test result, the same test result, is going to get completely different information depending on the clinical context where you decided to order it, namely for screening or diagnosis rather than for monitoring or follow up. The first step in Evidence Based Laboratory Medicine is asking an answerable clinical question, e.g. using a popular tool as the Fagan’s nomogram you have to get some clinical (pre-test) information in order to evaluate the post-test probability. As a laboratory physician you must understand the clinical question; the other way round, clinicians must be aware of the more relevant pre-analytical, analytical and post-analytical issues. How the laboratory reports its results is paramount for clinicians to understand their real meaning. A typical Laboratory report is made of a list of figures sided by reference intervals, set to dimension the biological signal. Common practice and professional standards such as ISO 15189 and CPA UK both ...