At a glance
This course provides an overview of the public health laboratory infrastructure, including the core functions of state public health laboratories, laboratory safety, procedures for collecting and submitting samples for testing in public health laboratories, and how lab results are used in public health practice.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the course, you will be able to:
- describe the role of public health laboratories.
- summarize the core functions of state public health laboratories.
- describe the parts that are common to all public health laboratories.
- recognize the need for different laboratory levels and safety practices.
- explain the necessity for communicating with a laboratory when collecting and submitting samples for testing.
- describe how laboratory results are used to affect public health.
Available Learning Formats
E-learning Course
Recorded Webinar
Slide Presentation
These slide sets are in the public domain and may be downloaded and customized as needed by the user for informational or educational purposes. Permission from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is not required, but citation of the source is appreciated.
Suggested Citation:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Introduction to Public Health. In: Public Health 101 Series. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, CDC; 2014. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/training/publichealth101/laboratories.html.
Quick-Learn Lesson
This skill-based lesson takes 20 minutes or less to complete.
- Recognizing the Biosafety Levels
- Learn how to recognize characteristics of the four biological safety levels.
- Learn how to recognize characteristics of the four biological safety levels.