Would anyone know a good website that explains the various results of the french lab report? I do speak french, so it can be in either English or French. Thanks!
These are quite good !
And of course the Ameli site …
Thanks, Ann!
Hi Perry…
I hope the various links do help…
I used to agonize over my results… 
Then my Médecin Traitant assured me that he would contact me if ever there was anything to worry about…
Presumably it is your MT who has asked for the bloodtest… ???
Hi Stella…thanks for note. I’m all set with the links Ann provided! SF is a great resource 
. Perry
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I would advise discussion of the report with a clinician as any results need more interpretation than looking up the names of the tests in a website.
Thanks everyone. I have what I need.
If a doctor orders a blood test then the report is sent directly to the GP (normally the lab our dr uses sends it in a couple of hours via internet) with a copy to the patient. If there is anything really abnormal then the doctor will contact the patient immediatly.
The fact that you have a copy lets you check it out and discuss anything that you are worried about during a rv with the doctor. 
Absolutely… as always it is the patient who keeps all the results… mine go back some 20 years…
Funny thinking back… I never saw any results of any sort in the UK…
I didn’t even know what my blood-type was, until I came to France… my MTraitant was astounded… and ordered the necessary tests straight away… 
I think the French system is excellent. Every 3 months my MT gives me an ordonnance and I go to the lab for the prise de sang and the results are online after 17h the following day. I, too, have a file of all my results going back years.
When I compare that to the haphazardness of my Mum’s blood tests in the UK it just doesn’t compare.
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Why would you need to know what your blood type was?
When having an operation… for example…
Sometimes when visiting a consultant you are asked this.
I carry an organ donor card and it’s also noted on that too !
My health info stuff is always with me. in my “bag of a thousand things”… … never know when the unexpected might strike…
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In a modern blood transfusion service units would be issued only after an individual cross-match with the patient’s and donor’s blood has been made (units have a long “tail” of tubing pinched off into small samples to facilitate this).
It will speed the process if the lab has a previous sample to identify the group (which takes 10 minutes anyway) but no lab would rely on anything but a sample processed by themselves - too much margin for error otherwise and transfusing ABO incompatible blood can be fatal.
In an emergency ABO compatible blood or even “O negative” blood can be issued but it is best to avoid this if possible as it can complicate further transfusion.
Edit: Oh, and UK labs now require a minimum of two samples taken at different times to confirm group.
No point is us going back and forth…I can only say what happens in Frances… is what happens in France… this is my experience…
In emergency situations… I have been asked for my Blood Type…
In organized situations… I have been asked for my Blood Type…
It is normal for a French person to have this information… it was normal in UK for me (an English person) to not have this information…
Totally agree, two different systems, can’t expect them to be the same.
But I really hope that information would not be used by itself to issue a unit of blood.
Paul… the card carries all the info about what is in my blood…
and on the front it clearly states:
"Nous vous conseillons de conserver sur vous avec vos papiers d’identitié, cette carte de groupe sanguin.
La connaissance de votre groupe facilitera toute transfusions qui vous serait nécessaire. "
I carry mine too…after all when in France do as they ask and do 
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As we said, different cultures.
However there is much more about blood transfusions than just the ABO group (and rhesus).
When cross-matching you start by selecting an ABO and rhesus compatible unit, you then use one of the little aliquots of blood from the donor to check that there is no incompatibility with the patient - you would notice ABO incompatibility pretty quickly when doing a full cross match but just knowing the group would not enable you to issue a unit.
Where patients have been transfused a lot they can develop antibodies to other antigens within the blood - some patients are so difficult to cross match that it needs to be done in a regional or supra-regional centre. Some patients who have not received a lot of blood also have odd antibodies that make the cross match difficult.
In the UK there has been a campaign over something the last 20 years under the banner SHOT (Serious Hazards of Transfusion) designed to reduce errors.
Today anyone involved in taking samples or administering units has to be specially trained and there is a registration number which goes on all documentation - there are standards for the collection, labelling and processing and they are fairly stringent. The labs now want, as I said, a minimum of two samples to establish the group.
As I said with a full cross-match you would notice an incompatible unit before it was released with a patient’s name on it1 - but if just issuing an ABO compatible unit in an emergency you really, really, want to be sure that you are issuing the right group and I’m not at all convinced that a blood group printed on a card in the patient’s pocket, no matter how carefully preserved, is reliable enough. Especially if it is based on a sample years ago.
If France is not taking at least as much care over issuing blood I would argue that it is not taking enough care.
There’s a nice video illustrating some of the hazards - anyone even remotely associated with the process in the UK will be sick of seeing this but you might find it amusing.
1] Assuming that there is not also a sampling error in the cross-match sample.
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