Laboratory Services

Analyzing substances like blood gives your health care provider vital information that helps with diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and screening for symptomless conditions. At Dr. Bamba’s Health and Medical Center in Glen Burnie, Maryland, N’Dama Bamba, MD, MPH, offers onsite laboratory services for patient convenience. Call Dr. Bamba’s Health and Medical Center for further details, or schedule a consultation by completing the online booking form today.

What are lab services?

Lab services analyze various substances obtained from your body. The most widely used are blood and urine, but some tests might require stool, mucus, discharge fluids, or cell or tissue samples. Lab services have three primary purposes:

Diagnosis

Testing helps to identify what’s causing new symptoms like pain, fever, diarrhea, and vomiting. It can determine what type of bacteria is causing your condition so you get the correct antibiotic. Lab testing also analyzes tissues to determine if they’re cancerous or detect conditions like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

Treatment

Monitoring your progress when you start treatment is important, especially for chronic diseases. Dr. Bamba can then modify your treatment to achieve the best results. Common examples include checking blood sugar levels when you begin diabetes treatment and measuring cholesterol when taking statin medication.

Screening

Screening tests detect diseases before you have any symptoms. Many serious disorders cause no or few issues until they reach a stage where the problem is irreversible, and treatment is more challenging.

What lab services might I need?

Dr. Bamba recommends the appropriate lab services after discussing your symptoms, checking your medical history, and completing a physical exam. Common lab tests include:

Infection diagnosis

Infection tests include COVID-19, strep throat, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), urinary tract infections (UTIs), and Heliobacter pylori (the cause of gastric ulcers).

Complete blood count (CBC)

CBCs are useful indicators for many health problems, from vitamin and mineral deficiencies that cause conditions like anemia to signs of inflammation. The test helps Dr. Bamba identify areas requiring further analysis.

Cancer screenings

Cancer screening labs include prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests for prostate cancer, fecal occult blood tests for colorectal cancer, and Pap smears for cervical cancer.

What happens when I need lab services?

Many family medicine and primary care practices send you to an external lab for your tests. However, there’s no need for that inconvenience with Dr. Bamba’s Health and Medical Center. Instead, they meet your laboratory needs at the clinic or your medical home. 

The practice has an in-house phlebotomist (expert in blood tests) with over 10 years of experience. They can help with all lab services, including:

• Medical diagnosis
• Employment
• Pre-employment checks
• Pregnancy screening
• Sexually transmitted disease (STD) testing
• Drug screening

Lab tests are typically painless but may cause mild, brief discomfort during sample collection.

Call Dr. Bamba’s Health and Medical Center to learn more about available lab services, or book an appointment online today.