Frequently Asked Questions

Fasting is when you consume no food or drinks, with the exception of water, for a set period of time. It's important to drink plenty of water, not just because you're not eating, but because it's easier to draw blood from your veins when you're well hydrated.

Fasting is essentially required for Lipid Profile and Fasting Glucose test. Also Fasting may be required in cases of special (hormones) tests or on Doctor's advice.

Blood sample should be given exactly 2 hours post lunch for Post lunch Glucose test. The lunch should include only routine food which the patient has regularly. Patient should not eat or drink anything during these 2 hours except water.

Urine sample should always be collected in the sterile clean container. Before collecting the sample, the patient has to clean the surrounding area (genitals). While passing the urine patient should discard the first part of the urine and collect the ensuing part. This sample is also called as Mid-stream urine sample. The container should be labelled properly and the cap tightly screwed to avoid leakage of the sample.

• Empty your bladder when you first get up in the morning. DISCARD this Urine. Record the time on the container.
• From that time, save all urine up to and including the first morning specimen at the end of the 24 hours ( or other designated time period). During collection and until the specimen is brought to the laboratory, the urine container should be refrigerated or kept on ice (in a bucket).
• Record on the urine container, the time the last part of the specimen was collected.
• Be careful not to deposit toilet tissue in the specimen or allow it to become contaminated with fecal material.
• If the container has a preservative, (orange sticker or written), handle the container with caution.
• Bring the container with the urine to the laboratory as soon as possible.

Complete Blood Count will give us Hemoglobin, Red Blood Cell count, Red cell indices, Total White Blood Cell count, and Differential count of White blood cells, Platelet count and findings of Peripheral smear.

Patient should do his/her HbA1c test once in Three months.

T3, T4, Free T3, Free T4 and TSH are main tests related to Thyroid functions. Anti thyroid antibody tests are also done.

For all practical and routine purposes, it is ideal to transfuse to the patient the same group of blood which he/she belongs to. It is only under very dire emergencies that we take O group as universal donor and AB groups as universal recipient. Under no circumstances O group can get any other blood except O. Similarly A group patient cannot be given B group blood and vice versa.

Tests available for HIV detection in the blood are as follows:

• HIV p24 antigen
• HIV antibodies
• Western Blot test and PCR test

Fasting is not required for HbA1c test. Patient can give sample at any time.

Regular diet and medication should be followed for at least three days prior to undergoing the tests and on the same day of the test.

Atleast 12 hours of fasting is required for Lipid profile. During fasting the person is allowed to have only plain water.

Introduction

The accurately timed urine collection you are about to perform is a part of your care. Important health decisions depend on it. The test is valid only if the collection includes all the urine you pass in a 24 hour period . The test will be Inaccurate and may have to be repeated if, For any reason, some of the urine you pass during the 24-hour period is not put into the collection container.

Your physician may have requested several urine tests. If the tests require different preservatives, you will need to collect urine in separate 24-hour periods. You will be given container(S) for each 24-hour urine collection if needed.

Preparing the container

Remove the cap from the container. Collect the urine in different sterile container and then pour it into the supplied container. Do not pass the urine directly into the supplied container as it may contain preservatives.

Recording start and stop times

For your information and for laboratory documentation, record your start and stop times on the label pasted on the collection container. Stop time is 24 hours after the start time (for example, start at 7: 00am. a day and finish at:
7:00am the next day)
Start: day am /p.m./Stop: day a.m /p.m

Urinate at the start time, but do not save the urine. (This urine was formed before your collection period began and should not be part of your collection.)

• Begin the urine collection in the morning after you wake up, after you have emptied your bladder for the first time.
• Urinate (empty the bladder) for the first time and flush it down the toilet. Note the exact time (eg , 6:15 AM). You will begin the urine collection at this time.
• Collect every drop of urine during the day and night in the supplied container.
• Finish by collecting the first urine passed the next morning adding it to the collection bottle.

This should be within ten minutes before or after the time of the first morning void on the first day (which was flushed). In this example ,you would try to void between 6:05 and 6:25 on the second day.

If you need to urinate one hour before the final collection time, drink a full glass of water so that you can void again at the appropriate time. If you have to urinate 20 minutes before, try to hold the urine until the proper time.

Please note the exact time of the final collection.

Storage

The bottle(s) should be kept cool or refrigerated. On the day you finish your 24-hour urine collection, take the collection container(S) and return specimen to the laboratory ,for measuring and processing.

Atleast 12 hours of fasting is required for Lipid profile. During fasting the person is allowed to have only plain water.