Interpreting blood results, a basic guide in Primary Care

This course is designed for clinical staff members who will be working within General Practice, who will need to request blood tests and interpret blood results, working within the UK. This could take up to 5 hours to complete for a novice, based on your prior knowledge and experience it may take you less and is a basic course for Primary Care clinicians. The aim of this training is for the learner to be able to understand and successfully interpret the most common blood tests found in General Practice. The course will provide information regarding why you would request a certain blood test, assisting with gaining confidence in knowing what blood tests to request and reading and interpreting blood test results. You will always adhere to your workplace protocols; gain an understanding of what you will need to do and why, maintaining professional practices throughout. All guidelines provided in the lessons within this course are correct and current at the time of writing and specific to our local laboratory guidelines. You will need to ensure that you follow any updated guidelines and work protocols within your practice and area.

The reference ranges provided on the crib sheet may differ from those provided from lab to lab, as they differ between areas, it is really important that you know your local reference range limits when you analyse a blood test result.

These lessons are very long, due to the nature of the subject matter, it might be beneficial to take a comfort break between each lesson, if required.

It would be beneficial to have a note pad at the ready, but please do not worry if you have not, there are downloadable files for your reference! Some of the tables and examples provided have not got audio support as they will be included in the PDF at the end of each lesson, which can be increased in size within this format if needed for eye comfort.

Learning Objectives:

Learn about the make up of the blood, the elements within it and how it is generated.
Master why it might be necessary to take a blood test and which one you might need within General Practice.
Understand the importance of considering clinical history, examination findings, and other investigation results to develop a working diagnosis.
Gain knowledge and understanding regarding what blood test results could reveal, which is supported by a Crib sheet with information regarding parameters, for the purpose of working through Scenarios.
Understand what the blood reference ranges might indicate and be aware of the relevance of these in relation to certain health conditions.
Develop skills through Scenarios on how to interpret the blood test results, this will aid as an understanding and knowledge check, which you might need the Crib sheet to assist you with, depending on your previous knowledge and experience. The Scenarios throughout the course will NOT form part of the final Assessment.
To take away and explore additional information that you may wish to investigate online, these are correct at the time of writing this course and information is included within the downloadable content.

There is an end of course Assessment.

This is where you will be able to show off all the information that you have learnt, there is quite a lot, so making notes would benefit you for a quick recap! You will need a pass rate of 80% or more to pass and be able to obtain your certificate, which can be downloaded and printed.

Please be aware that all content within this course is copyright protected

Please scroll down each screen and click ‘continue’ where indicated, also be aware of the arrows or the relevant numbers on the bottom of the screen to ‘click on’ as needed.

Where possible we have provided audio support to utilise if preferred and/or required but please be aware that there are examples for you to peruse also.

When you are ready to begin, click the “Start Course” button.