Why isn't a blood test done during the CF enrollment medical?

[NJL]

It seems like it would be a good/better way to indicate the general health of a recruit... I have gone through the CF enrollment medical twice (made the mistake of VRing) and both times my urine came back positive for protein... I then go to my doctor, who sends me to the local hospital for urine test/blood test.. both times the results come back clean/good (confirming I'm in good health)... It just seems that a blood test is a better indicator (able to test for more things (blood sugar,creatine,etc) of a recruits true health compared to a urine test... is it a cost issue?


My .02

 

[Bane]

The urine test is a very cheap, fast and easy test. The plastic bottle is the most expensive part of it.  You can buy about 100 test strips for about 10-15 dollars.

 

[Blackadder1916]

This topic has been covered before.  A search would turn up several threads that address urine and enrolment medical.  A very good reply in one of them:  http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/13577/post-573157.html#msg573157

A routine urinalysis is a screening procedure.  In the case of an enrolment medical the purpose is to identify those who may have a medical condition that precludes enrolment.  When used by a civilian practitioner (in a civilian setting) it is often the first test  that he will order to determine if there are any abnormal results and often those results will form the basis of his decision to order further tests, including blood tests.  Is cost a factor for its use in the enrolment medical, definitely.  But is a blood test a more effective screening tool than the urinalysis, no.  In fact there are some things that a urine test will identify that a blood test will not.

 

[Romulus]

I was sure they took a vile of blood at some point in BMQ. I saw it on a video i watched.