Public Health Laboratories

Merrick, Riki; Hinrichs, Steven H.; Meigs, Michelle

This chapter will review the multiple functions of Public Health Laboratories (PHLs), including their differences to commercial clinical laboratories. For example, the types of samples submitted to PHLs differ from those submitted to commercial clinical laboratories. PHLs are critically important to population based healthcare; playing an essential role in the detection of disease outbreaks. This chapter will describe the hierarchical organization of the PHL system in the Unites States, as well as the networks that have been created to support diverse PHL functions such as food safety testing and emergency response to terrorisms or natural disaster. It will briefly describe the standards used by PHLs and how the implementation of standards should further improve patient safety as a whole. In this chapter the reader will be introduced to PHL informatics in the context of the laboratories operational workflow – from test ordering, interfacing with diagnostic instruments, quality control and result reporting and analysis. The reader will also understand the impact of PHL informatics collaboration efforts and its effect on ongoing policy development.