You can find medical labs all over the country. Many belong to chains, while others remain independent. They fulfill all kinds of functions. Some cater to private citizens, while others mostly have relationships with government entities or other businesses.
Maybe you’ve never had cause to use a medical lab, but you might at any time. Let’s take some time to talk about a few of the services you might get from one of these facilities.
Urine Toxicology Reports
Let’s say you’re running a business. You want to make sure that your workers don’t come in to work intoxicated. If you’re running a factory, a construction company, or something similar, you might have employees working with machines. You never want them to run those devices if they’ve been ingesting illegal substances, like cocaine, methamphetamine, etc.
You can have every employee give you a urine sample. You might have a set time every few months when they can do this, or you may have a random urine test every once in a while.
When you collect those samples, you can send them to the lab. In short order, you will get back the results. If you see that you have some workers who come to work under the influence, you can let them go. It might sound harsh, but if they’re operating heavy machinery, they could easily injure or kill someone if they’re indulging in illicit substances.
Covid-19 Testing
You can get a Covid-19 at-home test these days. However, they’re not always the most accurate. If you’re going to travel for work or you’re going to be spending time with coworkers in an enclosed environment, you should be sure you have contracted Covid-19 before deciding whether you must put your plans on hold.
For the safety of everyone you work with or for passengers around you, if you have travel plans, you must get a definitive answer about your health status. If you submit a Covid-19 test to a lab, you can know for sure whether you have it and whether you’re potentially still contagious.
GI or Stool Testing
GI testing, sometimes called stool testing, doesn’t sound fun. However, your stool sample analysis can reveal a great deal about what’s happening with your body.
You can find out via a stool sample whether you have various medical conditions. Once you submit a sample and your doctor gets the results, they can call you in so you can talk about them.
You can then decide on a prudent course of action. Based on the stool sample’s composition, the doctor might put you on a new diet, give you a new drug prescription, or recommend that you take some particular action for the good of your health.
DNA Testing
Maybe you suspect that your spouse or partner cheated on you at some point. That sort of thing can eat away at you if you let it. To regain trust, you might do a DNA test. That can prove whether you’re a child’s parent or not.
If you find that you’re not a child’s parent, that could lead to your marriage or relationship failing. It’s tough when that happens, but maybe you feel you can never trust your partner again after learning this information.
You might also take a DNA test if you suspect that your parents raised you, but they’re not your biological parents at all. Sometimes, situations occur where individuals adopt you, and they say they’re your birth parents, but they’re not. They might have their reasons for doing that, but perhaps you reach a time when you feel like you must know the truth, regardless of the consequences.
With a DNA test, you will learn about your origins once and for all. The answer might upset you, but it may also give you the closure that you so sorely need.
Respiratory Pathogen Testing
You can also do respiratory pathogen testing in a lab. When you do, you will learn whether you have been breathing in biological agents or other contaminants.
If you’ve done some work at a job where there’s pollution nearby, these tests should reveal that. Maybe the company for which you worked tried to conceal the danger of the substances with which you interacted. However, in later years, you might develop certain cancers because of your exposure to these toxic elements.
If so, you might have a civil case on your hands. You can start the process by getting respiratory pathogen testing.
