Lab Tests Online and consumer understanding of laboratory testing.

Lab Tests Online is a "peer-reviewed, non-commercial, patient-centered" resource where patients and their relatives and caregivers can learn about the tests used to screen for, diagnose, and manage disease. Consumers are becoming increasingly involved in the management of their own health care and increasingly have access to their laboratory results through electronic health records. Research has shown that consumers have difficulty with health literacy in general and with numerical data in particular. The Lab Tests Online global websites are an important step toward helping consumers understand the complexity of the pathology process, the expertise of the people involved and the meaning of the results provided to them and their healthcare professionals.