How long does blood test for pregnancy take?

It depends on how much backlog is in the lab. I've had lab results (which included a pregnancy test) completed in under an hour in the ER on a Saturday night.

Here is a link that might help, depending upon how much detail you are needing.

http://www.labtestsonline.org/lab/photo/blood1.html

If you click the links about the photos, it will show the process of a blood sample through the lab.

Rarri said:

I've Googled and i'm struggling to find the result i need, other than one answer on Yahoo ... so i'm hoping that the more reliable AW may have the answer.

When a blood test is done to check for pregnancy, how long does the test take?

Unfortunately i keep geting results that include appointment times, busy labs etc; i simply want to know how long the test takes in the lab. Any help, or pointers to other resources would be much appreciated!

Click to expand...

I'm going to wibble and say "It depends" ... how long does the plot need it to take?

The workload is the controlling factor. Normal non-emergency pregnancy tests are done once or twice a day, as a big batch. I used to let them accumulate until after the OB clinic samples got there and set up anywhere from 10-40 tests.

If it hits a hospital lab as an STAT (emergency) when there are no other emergency tests ahead of it, it takes just the time of logging it in, centrifuging, set up and incubation and reporting ... maybe 10 minutes maximum. (urine tests are faster because there is no centrifuge)

If it's not STAT, or hits when the techs are swamped with other emergency work like crossmatching transfusions ... they'll get to it when they can, which might be an hour or more.

If I'm remembering right, it took me three days to find out with my daughter. Regular pregnancy tests kept coming back negative, so I had to find out that I was pregnant from a blood test.

That was 1991, so they may come back sooner.

I used to work for a medical laboratory network, and our usual turnaround time for HCG blood tests was 24 hours, though it could be longer depending on our backlog. Once the analyzer broke down, and it took up to 72 hours.

Samples flagged as Urgent (our version of STAT) could be processed within a few hours, though.

My pregnancy blood test results came back 20 minutes after they drew blood, but it was in a woman's health clinic which apparently had their own lab of sorts.

When I had my daughter I'd already had a pee test, and then the doc takesa blood test to confirm. I got an answer back within an hour.

I never had a blood test to confirm a pregnancy. Both times, my OB/GYN relied on the home test.

If you want a super fast result go with a home test or pee test. (They are the same thing.) They will know within minutes.

I wouldn't go under an hour for the blood test in a story unless they have a lab right there at the doctor's office.

The urine test at the doc's office is just as quick as the home test, just minutes. And lab can be anywhere from 30 min to a few hours. So you have plenty of time options to work with!