The hospital's Laboratory and Pathology Services department performs or coordinates all blood and body fluid analyses and tissue pathology analyses on both inpatients and outpatients. The results of these analyses are used to assist the physician in his or her diagnosis.

The clinical laboratory is divided into the areas of hematology, urinalysis, blood bank, microbiology, chemistry, histology and pathology. Our lab is accredited by the College of American Pathologists (CAP)-the "Gold Standard" Accreditation for Labs.

Each of these areas is staffed by highly trained professional medical technologists who are under the supervision of a board certified pathologist.

The lab is staffed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, to offer quality patient care. Most routine lab tests are completed within a few hours.

There are specialized tests, however, that may take 24-48 hours or longer to complete.

If you have questions about the tests being performed, we encourage you to ask your physician.

During your hospital visit, your physician may perform a procedure to remove a sample of your tissue or blood. This is analyzed by a pathologist, a physician who examines tissue specimens. Although you may not have direct contact with this specially-trained consultant, the pathologist plays a crucial role in determining you diagnosis and subsequent treatment.

The Department of Pathology at Deaconess Medical Center offers a full range of diagnostic services in anatomic pathology that includes surgical pathology, autopsy pathology, cytology, cytogenetics, flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. In areas of surgical pathology, gastrointestinal pathology and renal pathology are two of the busiest subspecialties, both for inpatient and external consulting work. Our pathologists are the world's experts in the pathology of bone marrow transplantation and in outcomes such as graft versus host disease and hepatic veno-occlusive disease. Pathologists at Deaconess have been at the forefront in the diagnosis and analysis of developmental abnormalities.

Deaconess Medical Center provides clinical laboratory services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our clinical laboratory stays current with the latest technology by adding new testing procedures, such as the cardiac marker Troponin I Aspirin Resistance and constantly evaluates new instrumentation. Services available include:

• Chemistry
• Hematology
• Coagulation
• Urinalysis
• Blood Bank
• Microbiology
• Immunology/Serology
• Special Chemistry

Deaconess Medical Center's laboratory is fully accredited and certified by the College of American Pathologists.