title: Lab Tests Online and consumer understanding of laboratory testing.
abstract: Lab Tests Online is a "peer-reviewed, non-commercial, patient-centered" resource where patients and their relatives and caregivers can learn about the tests used to screen for, diagnose, and manage disease. Consumers are becoming increasingly involved in the management of their own health care and increasingly have access to their laboratory results through electronic health records. Research has shown that consumers have difficulty with health literacy in general and with numerical data in particular. The Lab Tests Online global websites are an important step toward helping consumers understand the complexity of the pathology process, the expertise of the people involved and the meaning of the results provided to them and their healthcare professionals.
authors.affiliation: Lab Tests Online, Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists, PO Box 2013, Toowong, QLD 4066, Australia. Electronic address: campbellandhawker@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Bruce
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Campbell
authors.affiliation: Lab Tests Online, AACC, 1850 K St., NW - Ste 625, Washington, DC 20006, United States.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Linzer
authors.affiliation: Pathology and Hepatology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington DC, United States; George Washington University Medical Center, Washington DC, United States.
authors.forename: D Robert
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Dufour
mesh_terms: D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D057286:Electronic Health Records; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D010336:Pathology; D012015:Reference Standards
keywords: Direct to patient; Electronic health record; Harmonization; Health literacy; Lab Tests Online