Pathologists, technologists and support staff work together to provide lab testing information to physicians for conditions, diagnosis of diseases and injuries.
Our pathology staff consults with physicians to determine what tests should be performed for individual patients and helps standardize screening tests, making diagnosis as cost effective as possible. Pathologists also help providers interpret lab results.
It is important for patients to review their lab results with their physician. There are times when an abnormal value on a lab report could be expected, can be easily explained or just indicates the need for additional testing.
It is critical for all laboratory tests to be interpreted within the context of each patient's personal health history, clinical signs and symptoms; a primary care physician is the best person to provide this big-picture perspective. For this reason, all Mount Nittany Health labs require a physician's order to run any lab tests.
Additionally, while there are thousands of possible tests that can be run on a sample, we only test for the specified prescription. For example, if a physician orders a lipids test to monitor cholesterol levels, the lab will not perform other tests like infectious disease testing.
Patients with specific testing concerns should discuss them with their physician prior to their test.