What Goes on Behind Closed Doors: A Brief Look at How Reliable Lab Testing Can Be

What Goes on Behind Closed Doors: A Brief Look at How Reliable Lab Testing Can Be

In the world of medicine, lab testing can help patients and doctors learn what type of treatment is best suited for a certain medical case, or whether a therapy is going the way it should. Due to its important and critical nature (after all, the results of these tests would determine a course of action in terms of the treatment of a patient), lab testing follows strict state and federal standards and regulations. Listed below are two of the standards placed on lab testing in order to assure both the patients and doctors of its reliability.

1. All the approved laboratory test methods being used today have met a set of criteria. For example, the criteria of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) include the ability of a lab test to actually detect and/or measure the substance that the test is supposed to detect and/or measure.

2. Standards are mandated by the state and the federal regulatory agencies that should be met by the laboratory. The laboratory should also adopt acceptable methods while conducting the tests. The given standards would assure patients and doctors that the results generated by these tests are accurate and could be trusted.

The reliability of lab testing is indicated by four concepts: accuracy, precision, specificity, and sensitivity. The first two concepts are statistical measurements, while specificity and sensitivity helps in determining whether a certain disease is present or not. An accurate lab test is able to produce results that are near or equal to the "true value" of a certain substance that is being measured by the test. One can envision an accurate lab test being able to hit the medical bull's-eye every time it is conducted. A precise lab test, on the other hand, is able to produce the same results every time, even if it doesn't meet the substance's "true value". A "sensitive" test is able to determine people who have a certain disease, such as HIV. In contrast, a "specific" test is able to pinpoint people who don't have a certain disease.

Lab tests can be thought of being the backbone of medical treatments and diagnoses, which is why there is a lot of pressure being placed on new clinical laboratory methods. Before you undergo a certain treatment, remember that it has been tried and tested.

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