By taking and testing a small sample of a person’s blood, doctors can check for many kinds of diseases and conditions. Blood tests help doctors check how the body’s organs — such as the kidneys, liver, thyroid, and heart — are working, and see if medical treatments are helpful.
Most blood tests take only a few minutes. They’re done at some doctor’s offices, and at community labs, diagnostic centers, and hospitals. A doctor, nurse, or phlebotomist (fleh-BOT-eh-mist, someone who is trained to take blood samples) will take the blood sample. Sometimes the sample is tested on-site; other times it will go to a lab.
Blood test results can be ready in a few hours or take a few days, depending on the test and whether the sample was sent to a lab.
Some of the blood tests most often done are:
Reviewed by: Larissa Hirsch, MD
Date Reviewed: Sep 1, 2021
