title: Laboratory medicine and diagnostic testing.
abstract: The clinical laboratory is a vital component of modern podiatric medical practice. In order to interpret laboratory data correctly, the practitioner must understand the essentials of diagnostic testing. These essentials include precision, accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and prevalence-based values of a given test. In addition, the podiatric physician should be aware of the limitations, variations, and interferences that can spuriously alter test results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Memorial Hospital of Rhode Island and Brown Medical School, 111 Brewster St, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA.
authors.forename: Noubar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kessimian
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D019300:Medical Errors; D011032:Podiatry; D012016:Reference Values; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity