Nobody particularly enjoys having blood drawn or providing a urine or stool sample, but a medical test conducted on a small sample collected from your body can give your doctor information that can help save or improve the quality of your life. Most people get through their medical tests just fine even though they may feel some embarrassment, discomfort, or anxiety at the outset. If undergoing medical tests makes you or someone you care for anxious, embarrassed, or even difficult to manage, read this article for some general tips on how to make the sample collection experience less stressful. Related articles include Tips on Blood Testing, Tips for Children, and Tips to Help the Elderly. In addition, the article Collecting Samples for Testing provides an overview of the variety of body samples that may be used for testing beyond the more common blood and urine samples, such as tissue (for a biopsy), cerebrospinal fluid, and sputum.
This article was last reviewed on November 5, 2008.
This article was last modified on April 8, 2009.
The review date indicates when the article was last reviewed from beginning to end to ensure that it reflects the most current science. A review may not require any modifications to the article, so the two dates may not always agree.
The modified date indicates that one or more changes were made to the article. Such changes may or may not result from a full review of the article, so the two dates may not always agree.
