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Reasonable time to get lab results (blood work)?

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Posted 6/3/2011 9:14 PM (GMT 0)
I posted before about issues with my GI's assistant. I talked to the GI and was assured things would be handeled. I had a blood draw last Friday. Still no results and I called to follow up. I was cutting them some slack with the holiday, but surely they should be in by now, right?
Posted 6/3/2011 9:18 PM (GMT 0)
If the blood draw was at your GI's office, the results really should be back by now. If the draw was done in a local lab, I've occasionally had it take as long as two weeks for the results to come in. I'd call again on Monday--and then let your doctor know that you've been waiting for results for ten days.

Which do you suspect--that she's just totally inefficient or that she's playing some kind of game with you?
Posted 6/3/2011 10:09 PM (GMT 0)
I thought she was ineffecient. Then I started following up with her when she was slow or did not respond to calls. Now I feel like I've been blacklisted. I've always been nice and polite with her and I don't call too often. During a test I usually ask when to expect the results and give them a day or two past that before calling to see what's up. When I needed an urgent appointment though she said she'd see and then never got back to me. I called to follow up about two times over about two weeks. Since then I learned from a nurse that I was never put on the list for an appointment and haven't had a call back from her for anything.

They were in-office labs. I figured Weds/Thursday with the holiday, but week is longer than I've ever waited for simple labs. It's not like a Prometheus test or anything.
Posted 6/4/2011 2:43 AM (GMT 0)
I had blood tests on Monday before Memorial day, got results in the mail the following Wednesday. So that meand they most likely had results in office on tuesday right after holiday. So a week should be about the right amount of time. My offce said they have to freeze the blood and send it out to a lab too.
Posted 6/4/2011 3:41 AM (GMT 0)
ASk the lab where you get them to fax them.. I get them the NEXT day!
Posted 6/4/2011 3:16 PM (GMT 0)
I use a hospital out-patient lab for my blood draws. I usually give them a day and pick up the results the second day after the draw (i.e. Wednesday for a Monday draw). Now, my gastro is only in her office one day a week so - if I waited to get the results from HER office ......

Of course, occasionally a test is ordered that requires more than a few hours or a day turn around and I do have to wait for those results but the lab can tell me about how long it takes to get those results back and I just add one day before checking in to see if the results are back yet.
Posted 6/4/2011 7:18 PM (GMT 0)
Make sure you keep a log of the dates on which you called, what you requested, and when (if ever) you received a call back. Make sure to note that you never received a return call, when you've given her enough time to respond and she's hasn't responded. And definitely include items like your not having been included on the appointment list after calling to request an emergency appointment.

When your log is sufficiently lengthy, or when you've just run out of patience, make a copy of your log, hand it to your doctor, and let him know that, despite his best intentions, nothing has changed.

Ridiculous.
Posted 6/4/2011 10:49 PM (GMT 0)
I think, though, it depends on the type of test you had done.

If they were just the normal ESRs etc, it should only take a day or two (if that), but other sorts can take longer, even more than a week.

Definitely sounds like it's time to have anothe rchat with your doctor, though... :-(
Posted 6/5/2011 2:33 AM (GMT 0)
They were just normal labs. I did end up getting a call back from a nurse after the office was closed for the day -- a week after the draw. With the holiday and all, I think that's not unreasonable enough to worry about. Hopefully things are even better in the future.
Posted 6/6/2011 9:34 PM (GMT 0)
You can try faxing the doctor's office. A written fax is harder for the office to ignore, since it provides you with documentation. Otherwise, it's your word against theirs about how many times you called, and why you called.
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