Blood test done before or after physical?

Usually I've been asked to get the lab work done a few weeks before hand.

I have now started doing the lab work before the exam so that the results are available during the time my physical exam is done and can be discussed in person. It always seemed awkward to have 1/2 exam done and the results not available for in person discussion when you are there for the physical. If there are any decisions to be made based on the lab results they can be made in person with the doctor.

I will now always have my lab results done before my exam.

Usually right after in the office next door, hate them only because I have some of the worst veins ever to find and usually pokes me a few times each time, love shots but had giving blood and especially hate when they need a IV as that is torture!

Mine is usually done before the exam. I always hate it!

Up until last year my blood work was all done after my physical and if there was an issue the office would call me. My current doctor just started having me get it done three weeks before my appointment. That gives him lots of time to get the results back and review them before he sees me.

My endocrinologist and urologist want the labs done before the appointment so they can have the results when I'm there. My primary care has a lab in her office and does the tests after the physical.

For the past ten years or so, I've lived in three different states due to my job and eventual retirement. My present PCP carries on the tradition of having me have my blood drawn aw eek before my physical so that lab results can be discussed during that procedure. This is helpful as your PSA/cholesterol numbers can be discussed face to face.

This year was "heightened" by having two liver enzymes elevate unexpectedly from previous years results; this has led to several blood draws, plus an abdominal ultrasound and a abdominal MRI for a "spot" on my right kidney-this turned out to be a "shadow" on the ultrasound.

My blood work is always done before...Dr. H says the apprehension of pending needle stick makes the exam worse and raises blood pressure...she wants all blood draws before my husband and I see her...I prefer it that way as well.

I always have my lab work (blood and urine) done three days before my visit. Both I and my doctor prefer it that way. He can look at the numbers and, if needed, make medication adjustments (and explain them to me) before I leave, and if necessary t repeat a test, he only has to check on those results. I would not feel comfortable with a doctor who scheduled them after the exam, unless it was due to something he saw at that time.

While I try to get blood work done before so we can discuss the results, that rarely happens. My urologist is the exception. That office has you come in about a week before and have your PSA drawn so the results are available at the visit.

My earlier post should have said "2 parts", not "22 parts". Not sure how I missed that.

Always after my Physical is done. Years ago it was done before being examined.

Before, so the results are available at the physical. One stop shopping makes life easier for me.

My Family Doc is a male and his CMA daughter always does a fasting blood draw before the physical.

I always get my blood done right after the physical.

Done afterwards, same for any other tests I need. Until a couple of years ago I would get a real nice print out in the mail a few weeks later. Now however the medical group I go to has everything computerized. I can go online to my portal and view my lab results, even comparing them to previous tests up to about 5 years ago. You can ask it to make graphs and all kinds of stuff. This is way cool. Also I can email my doctor from my medical portal with a question. Beam me up Scotty!

One part I don't like, the graph of my weight!

With my current doctor, I'm always asked to go there early in the morning about one week before the actual appointment for the blood draw. Then when I go to the appointment, the doctor is waiting for me with the results in hand and we can discuss if there are any changes or anything that needs to be taken care of.

The few times when he's found something he didn't like, he's had to ask me to book another appointment after several weeks to redo or get some additional tests. If it is something minor or probably unimportant, he just orders the new tests to be done for the next visit. But I suppose this only works because I go there fairly often, once or twice a year.

I get six monthly blood tests to monitor my response to hormones but there's never usually a physical involved.

When I was still seeing the specialist it was usually a chat about how things were going and to discuss any next steps then at most she'd weigh me and take my blood pressure in her office. Then we'd go next door to the exam room where she'd take the blood sample.

Now my blood tests are done locally it's usually done just before an injection but I get the choice of what order

I like the way former doc did. You went fasting and had labs, then a week later she had all labs and could carry on an intelligent conversation about what needs to be done.

Mine have always been after a physical. I say I want to do the usual tests (lipid panel, STD panel) and my doctor will order them for me, to be completed at my convenience. I try to get the labs finished as soon as I can, but usually not the same day... fasting has to be planned for, LOL.

Mostly during but a few years back I had a physical with a older dr he sent me to the lab a week before for blood and a clean catch urine sample (had to open my labia wide) during that test I was thinking about how in a week the doctor would be doing that exact thing to me.

I've already had mine done immediately after my physical in a separate part of the clinic. Results are then posted online with a follow up phone call to explain the results.

Doing it before so the doctor can discuss the results face to face is a good idea, though obviously not as convenient.

My wife and I have conjoint physicals, and we schedule our exams for first thing in the morning. That way we have our blood drawn after our physicals, before we have breakfast, for the fasting glucose level checks.

My doctor always schedules blood work after physical.I have several medical issues so he keeps me on a short leash and always lets me know the results before my next visit.I have never been inconvenienced by this.

I always get my blood test after the physical. It is inconvenient because I usually wind up having to wait a while for someone to take it.

I always have had a blood test done after my physical exam. I have never had it done before an exam.

Historically it was always at the end of the physical because it was only then when the doctor knew what he/she was going to be testing for (and drawing for). you then would get a call when they were ready and discuss them over the phone with the doctor. however, in the past year, i did go to a physical where the SOP was to get blood work before the physical so then the doctor had all of the results while conducting the physical. the downside is that there may be more blood work to do after meeting in person.

what i really don't like is to get the blood work at the physical and then being required to return in person simply to go over the results. it should be done over the phone at that point.

Echoing many others here: For me, it's always done after the physical. To me, this makes sense because the topics discussed during the exam might influence what tests are ordered. Fortunately, my primary care provider doesn't require me to return to discuss the results in person - they are, in fact, willing to do this over the phone. That alone is reason enough to stick with them (like Merkin, I find needing to return just to discuss the results very annoying).

Most of the time I have had labs after. But after I was raped my doctor would send me for labs before my visit. Now it is back to after.

I have seizure disorder and after my exams for seizures and once a year, my doctor calls for blood work but, I have to walk to a lab to have it done. When I went for my yearly exam, I went early in the morning and then to my exam appointment on the next day and got results.