New Patient Report: The Latest & Greatest
By: Stacy Hinz, MS
Director of Clinical Education
Physicians Lab envisions bringing the highest level of clinical relevance and education to practitioners who see the value in personalizing medicine to each patient. We currently have a large number of educational videos, training documents, and one-on-one training opportunities. This year, we continue to focus on superior education tools through our lab reporting engine.
At Physicians Lab, the science, research, diagnostics, and analytics behind the lab results are second-to-none. Our scientists, researchers, and educators have taken great strides to put together laboratory tests that tie together personalized medicine, metabolic pathway mapping, and the epigenetic biomarkers within the steroidogenic pathway. These strides, however, can remain un-tapped resources if the science, data, and lab results are not put together in an easy-to-interpret platform. In other words, we cannot expect our cumulative decades of experience and research to magically make sense to practitioners who are interpreting the lab results.
To address this gap, Physicians Lab is launching a new rules-driven reporting system that will translate what we know onto a personalized patient report. Please review some of the superior tools included in the new report below.
Target Range Graphics:
- Practitioners can see how their patients compare to population data in easy-to-read graphics.
Hormone Pathway Totals vs. Expected:
- The new report shows individual weights of certain pathway totals and has a visual comparison between patient results and population expectations. These comparisons can pinpoint genetic disruptions and metabolic issues in the steroidogenic pathway. BONUS: these graphics also have rule-driven text describing where deviations from the norm may be modified during patient care.
Ratio Dials:
- The new report displays key ratios in graphics that clearly show where the patient falls in each ratio, if the patient is balanced (or imbalanced), and in which direction the patient results are leaning when imbalances occur.
Patient Results-Driven Text:
- The new report allows for algorithm-driven text and recommendations based on a combination of patient results.
The proper balance between anabolic hormones and catabolic hormones is essential in creating a bio-environment for cell proliferations and tissue health to perform at optimal levels while still allowing for detoxification and responses to stress. The result shown indicates an imbalance between anabolic and catabolic metabolites, with higher catabolic metabolites. This can be due to either elevated cortisol and cortisol metabolites (see causes of elevated 17-hydroxysteroids) or low DHEA and DHEA metabolites (see causes of decreased 17-ketosteroids), and it leads to cascading events when out of balance. Possible causes include chronic stress, obesity, metabolic syndrome, excessive wear and tear, or poor recovery from illness or injury.
Lab Testing History:
- The new report provides historical data to give practitioners the ability to compare results over time.
Probability of Condition based on Symptoms & Lab Results:
- The new report assesses patient-reported symptoms from our on-line symptom questionnaire and combines the symptom data with lab results to assess the probability of the conditions listed below.
Updated Graphical Representation of Symptom Questionnaire:
- This updated graphic displays the specific symptoms reported during the patient questionnaire process and indicates the conditions that could correlate to the symptom. Additionally, this graphic indicates the severity of the patient-reported symptoms (1 green beaker = mild/sometimes, 2 yellow beakers = moderate/often, 3 pink beakers = severe/always).
Physicians Lab was created to serve two purposes: provide state-of-the-art science to a growing number of physicians focusing on preventive medicine and wellness for the aging population, as well as deliver superior solutions to physician practices and patients, who are actively seeking to manage their health through innovations in technology and preventive medicine. Physicians Lab delivers accurate and reliable results, while providing the tools necessary to complete convenient, affordable, error-free, and timely lab testing. For more information, contact (877) 316 – 8686.