Proposed criteria for sorting examined properties in clinical laboratory reports

To date not much importance has been given to the sorting of examined properties ("tests") in clinical laboratory reports. The present article contains a proposal about sorting the examined properties of clinical laboratory reports, in order to facilitate their interpretation to the requesting physicians. This proposal is mainly based on clinical and patho-physiological criteria. A set of groups of properties has been established according to the main clinical indications of each property. Some of these properties have several clinical indications and, consequently, have been included in more than one group. Some of these groups have been associated to other groups, so that the properties conforming them will always appear consecutively, since they are patho-physiologically related. Finally, an association between each group with the different medical specialities or areas of knowledge has been made, according to the clinical indications of each property. The groups of properties proposed are in concordance with their main clinical indications and their patho-physiological relationship. This ordering system gives priority, first, to the alarm (critical) values and, second, to the medical speciality or knowledge area of the requesting physician. This proposal can help the requesting physician to see first of all the most relevant clinical laboratory information related to her/his patient.