This content is intended for healthcare professionals.

As the fields of laboratory medicine and diagnostic testing continue to grow at an incredible rate, the knowledge and expertise of clinical laboratory professionals is essential to ensure that patients received the highest quality and most useful laboratory tests.

The Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine’s (ADLM) Academy and Science and Practice Core Committee have developed a test utilization resource focusing on commonly misused tests in hospitals and clinics. Improper test utilization can result in poor patient outcomes and waste in the healthcare system. This important resource geared toward medical professionals recommends better tests and diagnostic practices.

Always consult your laboratory director to make sure these recommendations are appropriate for your patient population.

To recommend a test of limited clinical utility or suboptimal utilization that has sufficient evidence to formulate impactful recommendations, follow this link to fill out our test recommendation form.

The content for Optimal Testing: ADLM’s Guide to Lab Test Utilization has been developed and approved by the the Academy of Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine and ADLM’s Science and Practice Core Committee.

72 Hour Quantitative Fecal Fat

Amylase

Anti-Gliadin Antibody Assay

Bleeding Time

CKMB

Estradiol Testing in Men

Ferritin in Pediatrics

Fetal Lung Maturity Testing

Hemoglobin A1c

High-sensitivity C-reactive Protein (hs-CRP)

Homocysteine

IgG Food Allergen

Insulin

Lyme Disease Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing

Oral Glucose Tolerance Test

Plasma Qualitative Methylated Septin 9

Prostatic Acid Phosphatase PAP PSAP

Qualitative Serum Human Chorionic Gonadotropin

Reverse Triiodothyronine (rT3)

Serum Free Light Chains

Stool Reducing Sugars

T3 uptake

Testosterone Testing in Women

Total Thyroxine

Vitamin B1 or Thiamine

Vitamin B12 or Cobalamin

Vitamin D