April Update in Under 30 (1)

 

If you’re reading this you already know how much I love a good set of blood test results, right?  It’s always (tragically!) a bit of a high point of my day when they spit out of the fax machine or become available through some other more modern little IT miracle! 😉 But joy turns quickly to frustration when I look through the results and can take an educated guess that patient wasn’t fasting at the time of the test – there goes the validity of most nutrient levels (Zn, Fe, Se etc), the acid base markers etc. etc. What a waste of time and money!  While we have a rough idea about the impact eating might have generally on some parameters e.g. increasing HCO3 levels & lowering plasma zinc etc., this is not quantifiable, we don’t know by how much exactly and therefore we are left guessing. 🙁

 

But food intake isn’t of course the only confounder that can mess with your patient’s blood test results and lead you to erroneous interpretations.  There are several things that with good patient education and better record keeping, we can control for, which would otherwise jeopardise the accuracy of our patients’ pathology results.

 

With better patient education, most of the improved accuracy and recording the context of each blood test can be left to them – Yay! 🙂  For this purpose, Rachel has created a template for a Patient Support Handout that patients should fill in each time they have a blood test that’s available with this month’s audio download on the topic. In addition to this she provides some great tips on what we as clinicians can also do to ensure we’re getting the most out of every patient’s blood test results and the goldmine of information they can offer us.

 

“Each form of testing has its limitations and/or confounders, but one the great advantages about standard pathology testing in the blood is that we have a large knowledge base around these issues. This places us in a good position to not only make sure our patients go at the right time for the right test but also that we interpret all patient results discerningly and accurately” Rachel Arthur

 

You can now purchase this latest Update in Under 30 audio that comes with a bonus pdf downloadable patient resource by clicking here.

Do you really know what your patient’s pathology is trying to tell you? Is there more to it than ‘one size fits all’ reference ranges? Rachel’s Master Diagnostics Pack will make sure you get the most detailed understanding out of any testing (mainstream or functional) your patients have had. Rachel presents diagnostics in a fun accessible way that is immediately relevant to the integrative practitioner. For more information on interpreting pathology, click here.