Rinsho byori. The Japanese journal of clinical pathology
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In response to the revision of social medical insurance policy, in which hospital clinics can additionally charge for laboratory testing when the test results are presented to an outpatient in a print-out form on a visiting day, we evaluated laboratory-spending times, so-called turnaround times (TATs). A total of 14,802 outpatients during the period from October 2010 to May 2011 were enrolled. TATs from venipuncture accession to completing blood collection revealed a log-normal distribution with 5 to 6 min of mode and 10(0.95 +/- 0.26) (4.90 to 16.2) min of mean +/- standard deviation. ⋯ In conclusion, the tests determined by immunoassay are rate-limiting for rapid reporting efforts in clinical laboratories. Secondly, TATs of blood collection are mostly influenced by order waiting time depending on days of the week and accession time. At present, there is no target value for TATs, however it is important to recognize the necessity to shorten laboratory-spending TATs.
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I have been involved in medical cooperation programs between Myanmar and Japan for over 10 years. The purpose of the first visit to Myanmar was the investigation of hepatitis C spreading among thalassemia patients. ⋯ The donation of drugs and reagents for laboratory tests is helpful, but it will be more helpful to assist the future leaders to learn modern medicine and develop their own various systems to support modern medicine. Our activity in the cooperation program is described.