[Management of laboratory for clinical physiology]

Physiological examination has the following characteristics: 1. Patient understanding and cooperation are required. 2. Accuracy of the results of examination is influenced by technician skill and experience. 3. Accidents may occur during examination. 4. Examination and judgment of the results proceed under cooperation between doctors and technicians. 5. Examination can be performed at patient's bedside. Recently, laboratories for clinical physiology have been required to provide high-quality examinations with an efficient cost-performance. They must not only integrate and conduct various physiological tests on demand, but also arrange the proper number of staff for the proper number of instruments. It is important to reinforce the risk management against unexpected accidents and to allocate a chief technician for flexible management of the laboratory. Equipment should be purchased according to systematic planning, novel technology should be actively introduced into laboratory medicine, and excellent technicians to handle it should be brought up. Standardization of the test methods and the quality control are necessary to guarantee the quality of the test results. These are issues to be solved by the society of laboratory medicine and not by a single institution.