The clinical role of clinical biochemists

Project EVETSIN investigated the training of clinical biochemists and other professional groups in the UK National Health Service. One of the most significant professional changes (with a training implication) identified was the increasing importance of the clinical role of clinical biochemists. The skills involved and the processes by which trainee clinical biochemists learn them had not been described or analysed to a significant extent. Factors that influence this changing role, the nature of the skills, how they are acquired and maintained, and the associated knowledge base are presented and discussed in the context of the training of clinical biochemists in the UK.