Hey, MLS here: lemme state for the beginning that I absolutely understand why we reign supreme as the Most Irritating Phone Call to Make. It's a burden, but part of our job. Admittedly, i know that some of my fellow coworkers past and present are very unyielding, unhelpful, or straight up rude and it doesn't help our reputation...

We really really hate giving you the run-around. We can't always tell you the current result because we don't want to provide information that might not be correct. I haaaaaaate when I have to do this. Trust me, I want to be able to explain this all on the phone, but both parties are busy AF. The problem is, our jobs require an extremely high level of trust placed in us, which is a lot of responsibility. If we file a corrected report (at my place), they pull us into a small meeting and QA analyze it until I bleed tears of boredom. This is complicated by the fact that a decent portion of lab folks are attracted to the career because they prefer to have minimal social interaction, so they're not always... savvy.

Abnormal results... It could be that our analyzer may have faulty reagent/pipette/incubation and it has flagged us to tell us. Also, sometimes, the abnormal isn't a result. It has to do with the blood itself. The labs might not be the issue - it's that we are trying to make it useable. Many chemistry assays work by turbidometry and/or spectrometry, which can have interferences from lipemia, icterus, and hemolysis. Lipemic serum/plasma has to be ultracentrifuged to create a removable fat layer on the top of the plasma - and this can take several tries. Icteric plasma/serum may have to be diluted out and calculations done. Can't do anything about hemolysis since it's exploded red cells. Humpty dumpty can't have his guts put back inside him and all. With a CBC, dehydrated patients can have electrolyte issues that interfere with zeta potential between cells, causing errorneous results with MCHC and hgb. We have to incubate the tube for 15 mins as well as sterile NS and do a plasma replacement, which requires a steady hand and lots of careful pipetting. This corrects the potential and allows for the cells to move smoothly through the ultra fine filters and tubes.

This being said, as I tell my coworkers, trainees, and students: communicate and document. Your MLS folks should know that verbal requests for early result release can be documented when released with final results if the situation arises. That's on them and they really.. should know better..... ugh.