Getting Started

A veterinarian’s first contact with a veterinary medical diagnostic laboratory should be via the telephone (Box 29-1). In most veterinary medical diagnostic laboratories, there is a section head who oversees each unit within the laboratory. Section heads are generally veterinarians with advanced degrees (e.g., MS, PhD, board certification) in their specialty area. Most diagnostic laboratories have a daily consulting pathologist who triages the incoming telephone calls and cases. The pathologist can decide to consult directly with the caller or can transfer the call to the appropriate section within the diagnostic laboratory.

Veterinarians who call diagnostic laboratories are often seeking advice on cases, and questions can range from discussion regarding differentials, appropriate sample collection and submission, interpretation of results, to treatment options for the affected patient(s). Good communication in the early stage of a case between the veterinary practitioner and the laboratory personnel is one of the most useful tools in a case workup and will almost always guarantee proper sample collection and accurate selection of initial tests. The often-mentioned statement, “Laboratories run tests, veterinarians make diagnoses,” says it all. Consulting with laboratory personnel to determine the laboratory’s capabilities, costs of analyses, turnaround times, method of sensitivity (e.g., some laboratories may be able to test for a substance by a particular method, but the method may not be sensitive enough to provide reliable and accurate clinical interpretation), and interpretation abilities is critical so that everyone involved in the case is well informed. The consultant can help expand or narrow the focus of the investigation, so that the sample submitter does not ask “to test for everything” but rather focuses on some select differentials to target for testing.

During the telephone consult a veterinarian can pass along critical pieces of history regarding the case that may be too cumbersome to write on the accession forms. The telephone consult can also provide necessary information regarding packaging, preserving, and shipping the samples. Some laboratories are open for Saturday deliveries, but many are not. The veterinarian should know this in case samples arrive later than expected and are potentially perishable. Many laboratories have much of this information on Internet websites, but the veterinarian should contact the laboratory directly to make sure that all information on the website is current and correct. A list of the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (AAVLD)–accredited veterinary medical diagnostic laboratories located in the United States and Canada can be found at http://www.aavld.org/mc/page.do?sitePageId=33930&orgId=aavld (Table 29-1).

TABLE 29-1 AAVLD-Accredited veterinary medical diagnostic laboratories

Arizona	Arizona Veterinary Diagnostic Lab 2831 N. Freeway Tucson, AZ 85705	Phone: 520-621-2356 Fax: 520-626-8696 http://microvet.arizona.edu
Arkansas	Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission Shipping Address: One Natural Resources Drive Little Rock, AR 72205 Mailing Address: PO Box 8505 Little Rock, AR 72215	Phone: 501-907-2430 Fax: 501-907-2410 http://www.arlpc.org
California	CA Animal Health & Food Safety Lab System University of California, Davis Shipping Address: West Health Science Drive Davis, CA 95616 Mailing Address: PO Box 1770 Davis, CA 95617-1770	Phone: 530-752-8709 Fax: 530-752-5680 http://cahfs.ucdavis.edu
Colorado	Colorado State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab Shipping Address: Fort Collins, CO 80523 Mailing Address: CSU DLab Fort Collins, CO 80523	Phone: 970-297-1281 Fax: 970-297-0320 http://www.dlab.colostate.edu
Connecticut	Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Department of Pathobiology & Veterinary Science University of Connecticut Shipping Address: 61 N. Eagleville Road, Unit-3089 Storrs, CT 06269-3089 Mailing Address: 61 N. Eagleville Road, Unit-3089 Storrs, CT 06269-3089	Phone: 860-486-4000 Fax: 860-486-2794 http://www.patho.uconn.edu
Florida	Animal Disease Laboratory Florida Dept. of Agriculture Shipping Address: 2700 N. John Young Parkway Kissimmee, FL 34741 Mailing Address: PO Box 458006 Kissimmee, FL 34745	Phone: 321-697-1400 Fax: 321-697-1467 http://doacs.state.fl.us
Georgia	Athens Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory College of Veterinary Medicine University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602-7383	Phone: 706-542-5568 Fax: 706-542-5977 http://www.vet.uga.edu
	Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Laboratory University of Georgia Shipping Address: 43 Brighton Road Tifton, GA 31793 Mailing Address: PO Box 1389 Tifton, GA 31793	Phone: 229-386-3340 Fax: 229-386-7128 http://www.vet.uga.edu
Illinois	Illinois Dept. of Ag. Animal Disease Lab 9732 Shattuc Road Centralia, IL 62801	Phone: 618-532-6701 Fax: 618-532-1195 http://www.agr.state.il.us
	Animal Disease Lab Illinois Dept. of Ag. Shipping Address: 2100 South Lake Storey Rd. Galesburg, IL 61401 Mailing Address: 2100 South Lake Storey Rd. PO Box 2100X Galesburg, IL 61401	Phone: 309-344-2451 Fax: 309-344-7358 http://www.agr.state.il.us/ AnimalHW/labs/index.html
	College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Shipping Address: PO Box U Urbana, IL 61802 Mailing Address: 2001 South Lincoln Ave. Rm. 1224 Urbana, IL 61802	Phone: 217-333-1620 Fax: 217-244-2439 http://www.cvm.uiuc.edu/vdl/
Indiana	Animal Disease Diagnostic Lab Purdue University 406 South University St. West Lafayette, IN 47907	Phone: 765-494-7440 Fax: 765-494-9181 http://www.addl.purdue.edu
Iowa	ISU-College of Vet Med Vet Diagnostic Lab 1600 S. 16th Street Ames, IA 50011	Phone: 515-294-1950 Fax: 515-294-3564 http://www.vdpam.iastate.edu
Kansas	Kansas State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory Kansas State University 1800 Denison Ave., Moiser Hall Manhattan, KS 66506	Phone: 785-532-5650 Fax: 785-532-4481 http://www.vet.ksu.edu/depts/ dmp/
Kentucky	Murray State University Breathitt Veterinary Center Shipping Address: 715 North Drive Hopkinsville, KY 42240 Mailing Address: PO Box 2000 Hopkinsville, KY 42241-2000	Phone: 270-886-3959 Only gold members can continue reading. Log In or Register to continue Share this: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Related Related posts: Neonatal Mortality Viral Infections Emergency and Critical Care Issues Prenatal Care of the Bitch and Queen Stay updated, free articles. Join our Telegram channel Join Tags: Small Animal Pediatrics Sep 11, 2016 | Posted by admin in SMALL ANIMAL | Comments Off on Effective Use of A Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory Full access? Get Clinical Tree Get Clinical Tree app for offline access Get Clinical Tree app for offline access