Laboratory Screening and Diagnostic Evaluation

"I (Kelly) have been "tossing around" the premise of this book for almost my entire NP career. I remember being a brand-new clinician and looking for a laboratory reference book to help me in clinical practice. While I found several good options, none quite gave me answers to all my questions or completely fit my needs. Fast forward to the start of my faculty career a decade ago, and I found that many of my students had similar desires for a laboratory reference book. At that time, I started collating tips and pearls in files that I provided as part of my teaching, but I never had as much time as I wanted to really "dive" into the literature. I wanted to see just how much of our laboratory ordering/interpreting practices were due to "tradition" rather than evidence. And then, I completed my Doctor of Nursing Practice and began teaching for The Ohio State University College of Nursing; both of which helped me learn how to be more efficient in evidence review. Moving from Missouri to Ohio also gave me new opportunities for partnerships and collaborations and I realized it might be time to turn my collection of notes into something more. Kate and I began to talk about my idea and she recognized the need for a book of this nature and brought fresh new ideas and perspectives from her experiences in her clinical and faculty practice. And the rest, as they say, is history"--

PART I: Foundational Concepts for Evidence-Based Use of Laboratory Tests