Issues Associated with the Management of Clinical Laboratories and Their Future: What is the Problem in Our Laboratory?--Chairmen's Introductory Remarks

The management of clinical laboratories in hospitals has to be changed in accordance with the trends in the healthcare-providing system. In this symposium, six presenters talked about various issues associated with their laboratories. The issues raised included conflict between specialty and generality, phlebotomy as a duty of laboratory technologists, management of the phlebotomy section, imbalance of numbers between retirees and newcomers, and cooperation with the division of clinical research. Presenters, chairmen, and the audience were able to understand that we are now facing these issues, and we could identify some of their solutions.