A blood test is that test that is conducted when a sample of the patient's blood is drawn for checking purposes in a laboratory. The GP or the nurse or midwife or even the specialist doctor in the hospital, can take a sample of your blood, or elses somebody who is trained specially to draw blood like a phlebotomist can take the blood sample. Blood tests are known to be one of the commonest performed of all medical tests. The blood circulates through the human body and is known to contain many varied substances. 40 percent of all the blood's volume is said to be made up of the blood cells. There exist three types of different blood cells which include the red cells, the white cells and the platelets. The red blood cells help carry oxygen away from the lungs and transport it throughout the body, while the white cells which form a part of the human body's immune system, help in defending the body from different types of infections. The platelets on the other hand aid the blood in clotting when a person is cut or injured. The rest of the 60 percent of the blood consist of plasma.
Blood tests are done for various reasons and can help provide the healthcare professional or NHS with a large range of information. NHS commonly uses blood tests to either diagnose or to rule out any particular conditions. They also use it to monitor an already existing condition and to find out what the blood group actually is before the patient is given a transfusion. Normally most blood tests allow the patient to eat and drink as usual prior to having the test. This will be specifically indicated by the NHS doctor. However there are some tests that require the patient to fast for a length of time before the test. They may sometimes be requested not to drink some liquids, like tea or coffee or alcohol or fruit juice as for some blood tests any eating or drinking of certain foods can actually affect the results. The results may thus come out inaccurate. Different blood test results will be declared in different timelines. The NHS doctor will normally stipulate when the patient should come by to pick up the results. The average length of time lies normally in the range of 5 days to a week. The healthcare professional will tell you if there is any additional thing needed to be done in preparation.
Submitted by M T on February 25, 2010 at 02:04