Lab Tests & Diagnostics

Lab tests and diagnostics are the tools we use to confirm a diagnosis, screen for disease before symptoms appear, monitor a chronic condition, or rule out something serious in an acute visit. The right test ordered at the right time changes the entire arc of care.

At Good Health NC in Knightdale, most routine labs and rapid diagnostics are handled on-site. That means a single visit for the appointment, the blood draw, the urine sample, and the EKG — with results reviewed together when they're available the same day. Tests that require send-out (genetic panels, specialized hormone work, pathology) are processed through partner reference labs with results typically in 2 to 7 days. We follow U.S. Preventive Services Task Force guidance on what to screen for and how often, and we explain why each test is being ordered before we order it.

Our standard in-office menu includes:

• Blood work

• Complete blood count (CBC) and comprehensive metabolic panel (CMP)

• Lipid panel for cholesterol screening

• A1C and fasting glucose for diabetes screening and management

• Thyroid panel (TSH, free T4, T3) for thyroid evaluation

• Vitamin D, B12, iron studies, ferritin

• Liver function panel

• Kidney function (eGFR, BUN, creatinine, urine microalbumin)

• Inflammatory markers (CRP, sedimentation rate)

• PSA and other cancer screening labs as indicated

• Urine and rapid testing

• Urinalysis and urine culture for suspected UTI

• Pregnancy testing

• Rapid strep, rapid flu, COVID, and RSV testing

• Mononucleosis (mono) screening

• Diagnostics

• 12-lead EKG for chest pain, palpitations, or cardiovascular workup

• Spirometry for asthma and COPD evaluation when indicated

• Skin biopsies and minor procedure pathology

• Send-out and specialty

• Hormone panels (testosterone, estradiol, FSH, LH)

• Allergy testing panels

• Hepatitis and HIV screening

• Sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing

• Genetic testing for hereditary risk factors when indicated

Most lab visits at Good Health NC look like this:

1. Provider visit first — labs are ordered as part of an appointment, not standalone, because the right tests depend on what we're working up
2. On-site blood draw — typically within the same visit, by a phlebotomist or trained clinical team member
3. Same-day rapid results — A1C, strep, flu, COVID, urine dip, pregnancy, and EKG results are typically available before you leave
4. Standard lab turnaround — most blood work runs 24 to 72 hours; send-out tests are 2 to 7 days
5. Results review — we contact you with all results, even normal ones, with plain-language interpretation
6. Next steps — if a test triggers a follow-up (medication change, repeat lab, specialist referral), we schedule it before you walk out

Fasting is required for some tests (lipid panel when ordered fasting, fasting glucose) and helpful but not required for others (most A1Cs, comprehensive metabolic panels). We'll tell you specifically what to do based on your visit type.

Common reasons to get lab work or a diagnostic test scheduled:

• Annual screening — most adults need a baseline metabolic panel, lipid panel, A1C, and age-appropriate cancer screening at least every 1 to 5 years depending on age and risk factors. This usually happens as part of your routine physical exam
• Symptom workup — fatigue, unexplained weight changes, new dizziness, palpitations, or persistent infections all warrant focused testing
• Chronic disease monitoring — diabetes, hypertension, thyroid disease, and kidney disease all require periodic labs to track control and adjust medication
• Pre-medication labs — before starting many long-term medications (statins, certain blood pressure agents, thyroid replacement, ADHD stimulants), baseline labs are required
• Pre-procedure clearance — pre-operative labs, EKG, and clearance documentation
• Suspected infection — strep throat, flu, COVID, UTI, mono — all testable in clinic with rapid results

For urgent same-day issues, walk-in urgent care at Good Health NC has the same diagnostic capabilities as our primary care side.

We order tests the way they should be ordered — purposefully, not reflexively. That means:

• The right test for the right question — we don't run a 40-marker panel when a focused workup will answer what we need to know
• On-site convenience — blood draw, urine sample, EKG, and rapid tests all done in the same visit, no separate trip to a draw station
• Same-day rapid results when the question is time-sensitive — strep, flu, COVID, A1C, urinalysis, EKG
• Clear interpretation — every result is explained in plain language, not just emailed to you with a green check or a red flag
• Integration with the rest of your care — your labs live in your record, are reviewed against your trend lines, and inform every visit going forward
• A 22-year primary care provider reviewing every result — our experienced PA-C clinical lead

Labs and diagnostics should be a tool for better care, not a billing line item. That's how we run them.