Fundamentals of Public Health Laboratories

Description

Public health laboratories are essential for protecting and improving public health. They do this by performing a broad range of diagnostic tests, providing specialized expertise, collaborating with partners, and supporting public health programs. This basic course provides an overview of the 11 core functions of public health laboratories and explains how these functions are implemented to effectively serve communities. It also examines the similarities and differences between public health laboratories and clinical laboratories, focusing on their respective roles within the public health system.

Audience

This basic-level course is for all clinical and public health laboratory staff.

Accessibility

Course content is closed captioned, where applicable, and optimized for a screen reader.

Objectives

At the end of this course, learners should be able to:

• Identify the 11 core functions of public health laboratories.
• Explain how the public health laboratory interacts with partners and customers, including other laboratories.
• Describe the role of federal, state, and local agencies and organizations within the public health laboratory system.