-It's the magic of medicine that happens behind the scenes.
70% of all diagnosis and treatment
is based off of laboratory results.
After the patients are seen,
normally, the physicians will request for laboratory
tests to be done,
and from there we know exactly what to collect.
And so venipuncture and phlebotomy is performed.
We then take those samples...
[ Monitor beeps ]
...centrifuge them all down,
and send them to the regional Laboratory
for Kaiser Permanente
for us to be able to do those tests.
♪♪
It's incredibly complex.
A lot of instrumentation, a lot of automation,
a lot of personnel who have spent years
studying laboratory science and medicine.
It's a very dedicated and complex field.
So laboratory analyzes, gets those results out,
makes sure they're accurate and precise.
We get that back to the physicians,
and the physicians can see those results
and interpret it as a diagnosis.
♪♪
-Alright, Rick, I need your help with this one.
Looks like he has a history of chronic bronchiectasis.
-Two weeks out from the clinic,
all our labs are processed, and they flag results for us
which are abnormal.
-They should see a doctor, yeah.
-And then we need to get those results to patients
and make decisions about how quickly these laboratory tests
need to be followed up on.
I'd probably say immediate.
-Hepatitis B antibody titer less than eight.
-That means it's negative.
It's flagged, but it's fine.
So far this year, knock on wood,
we have not found anything
that is immediately life threatening.
-A little bit of cholesterol and a little bit of bile.
-Boy, that's really a little bit.
-Yesterday we worked with one of our medical directors
and two of our clinical leads
to do the sorting part of the process.
Today, we are doing the mailing part of the process
and eventually, by the end of the day,
we'll have all of our labs out in the world.
Obviously, labs come back
and you get this complicated sheet of paper
that has these flags on it that says abnormal or high or low,
but you don't really get the context to understand
what that means for you.
If you should go get seen tomorrow or if you can wait,
or if it might be slightly out of the normal range
but you really don't need follow up.
So that customization and that personalized plan for you
is really important.
It's part of our little effort to do as much follow up
and connecting patients with resources
outside of our four-day clinic.
-The commitment to the cause
and the end result of patient care is definitely shared.
It doesn't matter what field you choose here in health care,
the mission is the same.
♪♪
-Watch CityStream Tuesday nights at 7
on the Seattle Channel,
or find us anytime online at SeattleChannel.org.
♪♪