Wareham Pediatrics is equipped with a small lab that provides several diagnostic tests to our patients so that many results are available before you leave the office. In some cases, we may order tests for your child that are not offered in our office.
We utilize Tobey Hospital for most of our x-ray needs and urgent blood work. For blood tests that are not urgent in nature you are free to choose either Tobey Hospital or Quest Diagnostics Labs to get this work done.
The point of care tests in our office that we offer to all patients are:
- influenza
- mononucleosis
- strep throat (both a rapid test and a culture)
- urinalysis
- urine cultures
- cholesterol analysis (including lipid profile)
- lead (routine at the 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old wellness exams)
- hemoglobin (an anemia test, routine at the 1-, 2-, and 3-year-old wellness exams)
Additionally, as part of our commitment to provide comprehensive gynecologic care to our adolescent females, we provide testing for:
- bacterial vaginosis
- trichomonas
- urine pregnancy tests
All of these tests are done after scheduling an appointment with our providers or nurses and billed to your insurance.
With our ability to perform cholesterol analysis in the office, our new test method enables us to check your child’s cholesterol without drawing blood. It is a simple and quick test using a few drops of blood from your child’s finger, and in five minutes we can tell you your child’s cholesterol levels and glucose. We routinely do this test at 9 to 11, then again at the end of adolescence. We also perform this as a FASTING level in certain cases. Currently fasting levels need to be scheduled, so please call our office for more details about when this can be done. Fasting levels require that you not give your child anything to eat or drink after midnight prior to having this test.
Lipid profile testing
In response to new guidelines from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which recommend routine cholesterol screening in all individuals at two times during their childhood (between the ages of 9 to 11 and 17 to 19), our office has been testing random cholesterol levels in the office during well-child visits. The second half of these recommendations was to screen children with fasting lipid profiles if their random cholesterol was elevated or if they have other risk factors for high cholesterol. In order to comply with these recommendations we have started offering fasting lipid profile testing in our office at least one Saturday each month. Testing in our office is more convenient than going to Quest or Southcoast hospital labs because you can schedule an appointment for the test and you get your child’s result within 10 minutes (before you leave the office). We have found that parents and patients are very satisfied with this service. If you would like to read more about cholesterol testing in children check out this link: http://healthlibrary.childrenshospital.org/centers-and-services/centers/heart-center/clinician-resources/clinical-consult-lipid-screening