The Medical/Clinical Laboratory is an area or a separate department in a health care facility that analyzes body fluids, which includes whole blood, serum, plasma, urine, sputum, semen, stool, and other fluids derived from different body sites. Medical Technology is the general term referring to the health care profession that performs laboratory analysis.

Laboratory test(s) provide valuable information to physicians and may be used for one or more of the following reasons:

 

• Screening - testing patients which may be asymptomatic and basically healthy
• Diagnosing - to confirm or rule-out a suspected condition or disease
• Monitoring - to check the course or stage the severity of a disease
                   - to check if a particular treatment is working effectively
                   - to check prescription drug levels or their appropriate amount
                   - to provide a prognosis