Follow That Sample: A Short Lab Tour

As a patient, the lab test that has been ordered by your doctor may require that you have your blood drawn by venipuncture (from a vein in the arm) or a fingerstick.  It may also consist of a throat culture (taken by a cotton swab rubbed against the back of your throat), a urine sample, or another sample of body fluid or even tissue (biopsy). You are finished with your part of the “lab test;” however, the real test happens in the laboratory where trained laboratorians analyze the sample on instruments and/or observe specimens under a microscope.  Let’s look at a couple of examples: a blood sample and a throat culture.