CLINICAL LAB SCIENEC

CHAPTER 4: HOSPITAL AND LABORATORY ORGANIZATION 87
workers is not as great as in the past, mainly due to automation, with high
levels of procedures performed in minutes. However, this decrease in the actual
number of workers has been somewhat offset by the larger numbers of tests
being performed for diagnosis. Insurance has demanded shorter stays, and treatment
is now definitive and quick. Will the organization of the laboratory change
in the future? Undoubtedly it will, as the numbers of sophisticated tests available
increase and radical treatments for formerly terminal diseases are ratcheted
up. In addition, more graduate-level scientists will be required as increasingly
sophisticated procedures are developed.
It is possible that more laboratory scientists will be required instead of fewer
in the future to perform complex tests that require the critical thinking processes
to complete and disseminate the results to physicians and their designees. The
next step for technicians and technologists for more definitive and technically
demanding work may be just over the horizon. There are new markers discovered
on an increasing basis that either predict the risk factors for certain diseases
or monitor the treatment of serious diseases. Genetic manipulations and procedures
not yet developed may be routine in the next few decades in the hospital
laboratory.
Review Questions
1. Describe how the roles have changed for the CEO of a hospital (formerly
known simply as the administrator) now that more hospitals are modeled
along the lines of a business.
2. Describe the differences between an anatomic pathologist and a clinical
pathologist.
3. The operations of immunohematology (blood banking) and immunology
are similar in what way?
4. Describe the difference between a direct test and an indirect test.
5. Name four categories of organisms that may cause an immune response.
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