The complete blood count (CBC) test measures multiple components and features of the patient’s blood. The information that can be collected from the test are the kinds of cells in the blood and the numbers of each cell. The types of cells that are usually included in the tests and are counted are; white …show more content…
Examples as to why a healthcare provider orders complete blood count test for a patient can be to review a patients overall health, diagnose a medical condition or monitor a condition, and to monitor the success of a medical treatment. A healthcare provider may order a complete blood count test to be done to examine the patient’s overall health to screen for number of disorders like leukemia or anemia. The complete blood count test can be used to diagnose a medical condition. If a patient complains of feeling weak or tired, fatigue, inflammation, bleeding or bruising the patient’s doctor will likely order a complete blood count test in hopes of diagnosing an illness. Complete blood count tests can also be used to continue to monitor a preexisting blood disorder as well as seeing how well medications for a patient’s blood disorder are working in the treatment of a disease. There is no preparing for a complete blood count test meaning the patient will not need to fast before the blood draw unless other blood tests are ordered and the healthcare provider specifies and there is no down time necessary after a blood draw either. Even though a complete blood count test can help diagnose and/or monitor different blood disorders it is not a definitive diagnoses, results not in a normal range from the complete blood count tests may require follow up testing. If cell counts are slightly out of normal