There are two choices faced by veterinary practices in regard to the laboratory analysis of samples, most specifically the analysis of blood samples :
1) The use of a relatively low cost 'in-practice' or 'desktop' blood analysis machines in which the analysis of the samples, quality control and the calibration of the machine is the job of practice staff.
2) Submission of blood samples to a specialist veterinary laboratory with sophisticated equipment, trained and qualified full time laboratory technicians to run the tests, dedicated protocols to ensure spot on calibration and accuracy and experienced, qualified veterinary pathologists to analyse the results and give advice on diagnosis and further testing.
The following is an extract from a recent article by a well known veterinary pathologist:
... the situation where a practice decides to bring its routine clinical pathology analyses in-house and to dispense with the professional laboratory for all but the most specialist investigations is an entirely different matter.. The type of instrumentation acquired by practices to handle their own small workload is light-years removed from the £50,000 plus machines installed in the specialist laboratories ...the understanding of quality control and quality assurance is at best rudimentary. Quality of interpretation has also to be considered.
MORAG KERR BVMS, BSc, PhD, CBiol, FIBiol, MRCVS
In our opinion there is really nothing to choose between - we submit most of our blood samples to a long established and highly efficient laboratory with excellent academic staff to assist us in our care of your pets.
Samples are collected by courier and the vast majority of results are available the same day
We do of course perform many less critical tests on-site eg. blood glucose estimations, kidney function tests, microscopy, urine analysis, feline leukaemia/ FIV tests etc
1) The use of a relatively low cost 'in-practice' or 'desktop' blood analysis machines in which the analysis of the samples, quality control and the calibration of the machine is the job of practice staff.
2) Submission of blood samples to a specialist veterinary laboratory with sophisticated equipment, trained and qualified full time laboratory technicians to run the tests, dedicated protocols to ensure spot on calibration and accuracy and experienced, qualified veterinary pathologists to analyse the results and give advice on diagnosis and further testing.
The following is an extract from a recent article by a well known veterinary pathologist:
... the situation where a practice decides to bring its routine clinical pathology analyses in-house and to dispense with the professional laboratory for all but the most specialist investigations is an entirely different matter.. The type of instrumentation acquired by practices to handle their own small workload is light-years removed from the £50,000 plus machines installed in the specialist laboratories ...the understanding of quality control and quality assurance is at best rudimentary. Quality of interpretation has also to be considered.
MORAG KERR BVMS, BSc, PhD, CBiol, FIBiol, MRCVS
In our opinion there is really nothing to choose between - we submit most of our blood samples to a long established and highly efficient laboratory with excellent academic staff to assist us in our care of your pets.
Samples are collected by courier and the vast majority of results are available the same day
We do of course perform many less critical tests on-site eg. blood glucose estimations, kidney function tests, microscopy, urine analysis, feline leukaemia/ FIV tests etc
