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> -----Original Message----- > I would appreciate members views as to the benefits (and > pitfalls) of combined Biochemistry/Haematology laboratories, > particularly the effect upon staff utilization. Dear David: We combined chemistry and hematology nearly ten years ago, and our experience was mostly similar to Ian's. I have talked with many, many colleagues in the U.S. who have adopted the "Core Laboratory" concept, and I suspect that it is more common than not in clinical laboratories on this side of the pond. I also suspect that the principal driving force behind this migration was pressure to reduce staff. In my experience, while combining chemistry and hematology does increase efficiency and productivity, the flexibility it affords in staff scheduling is ordinarily overstated. There are a couple of reasons for this: First, there is a limit to how much we can expect our technologists to learn. It is difficult for a technologist to completely master one or two modern analytical instruments--despite vendor's assertions that these are "turn-key systems"--but to expect that they will become proficient on all the instruments in a combined hematology/chemistry laboratory is very optimistic. I believe it increases the probability for errors. But secondly, in Florida we have difficulties related to licensure--we have some core laboratory technologists who are licensed only in chemistry or hematology, not both. Although some techs are cross-licensed, this disparity has limited our flexibility in staffing the various areas of the lab. So even though chemistry and hematology are in the same room, we still have to assign technologists to specific workstations, which diminishes any anticipated savings in technical FTEs. I think the primary advantage to combining chemistry and hematology laboratories is in creating a common specimen processing station that is proximal to both services. In U.S. labs, we are always under enormous pressure to improve turnaround times, and having the processing station so close to both the high volume chemistry and hematology analyzers is a great benefit. When we have done workflow analyses in the past, specimen processing consistently turns up as the bottleneck. Kind regards, Roger Roger L. Bertholf, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Pathology Director of Clinical Chemistry & Toxicology University of Florida Health Science Center/Jacksonville ------ACB discussion List Information-------- This is an open discussion list for the academic and clinical community working in clinical biochemistry. Please note, archived messages are public and can be viewed via the internet. Views expressed are those of the individual and they are responsible for all message content. ACB Web Site http://www.acb.org.uk List Archives http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/ACB-CLIN-CHEM-GEN.html List Instructions (How to leave etc.) http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/