Laboratory medicine in the new healthcare environment

The 21st century challenge is to redesign healthcare systems to be safe, efficient, effective, timely, equitable and patient-centred. Although laboratory medicine is integral to many of these objectives involving prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and managing disease of patients, it suffers from poor visibility as a medical discipline and as a profession and fewer rewards for educational efforts when compared to other medical disciplines. Laboratory scientists are often perceived as managing machinery and equipment, but conversely they need to take a position of shared clinical leadership, showing the role of laboratory tests to guarantee optimal care for patients. This is however challenging because of some reluctance by laboratory professionals to involve themselves in test structuring and requesting and in the inspection of work as it arrives because it is assumed that all requests are clinically necessary; there is a poor communication and integration between clinical wards and laboratory; and, importantly, there is the need for an excellent cultural and scientific background of laboratory professionals for implementing outcome research and to act as knowledge managers and skilled clinical consultants. By combining the unique talent of performing quality laboratory assays with knowledge of the pathophysiologic rationale behind the tests, laboratory professionals have the expertise to advise their clinical colleagues in regard to the appropriate test selection and interpretation of laboratory results, thereby creating opportunities to define the added value and the pivotal role of laboratory medicine on healthcare delivery.