Best starting questions
- What exact analyte, specimen, and method are reported?
- Does the report provide its own reference interval, target, or decision threshold?
- Is the result affected by age, sex, pregnancy, posture, fasting, timing, treatment, or specimen quality?
Step-by-step workflow
- Search by name, abbreviation, alias, specimen, or clinical concept.
- Confirm that the selected profile matches the reported analyte and specimen.
- Use the reporting laboratory interval when the profile says it is method dependent.
- Review interpretation, differential considerations, interferences, related tests, and follow-up questions.
- Transfer the result to Serial Trends or a supported conversion only when the identity and units match.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Substituting an interval from another assay or institution.
- Using a general adult range for a pediatric, pregnancy, timed, or stimulation test.
- Treating a decision threshold as a healthy-population reference interval.
- Assuming a high or low result identifies one cause.
What the profile can and cannot do
The profile can organize method, specimen, range, interpretation, and follow-up context. It cannot determine whether a result is clinically important without the patient, timing, symptoms, treatment, rate of change, and the reporting laboratory policy.