Shared Clinical Laboratories

Abstract

PHYSICIANS use the clinical laboratory to obtain more information each year. The kinds of laboratory tests have grown steadily for the past 30 years (Fig 1). Even more strikingly, the total tests produced by the clinical laboratory have grown exponentially (Fig 2) at a compound rate of about 13% per year (Table 1). The demand is now so large that for the year 1974, the clinical laboratories in the United States produced an estimated 4 billion tests. 1 Most of these tests are done in local clinical laboratories, which, however, are not equipped to perform all the various types of tests needed by the physicians in a given region. In order to solve this problem, one solution would be to do nonemergency tests in a central laboratory, with each clinical facility retaining a small laboratory for emergency service. 1 Such a shared laboratory system could perform most tests, including the