[Clinical laboratory guidelines beneficial for Japanese people]

Recently, people are suffering from information overload, especially in the field of health care. Since 2007, we have been performing the duties of a nonprofit organization (NPO), the Standard Clinical Information Center. The purpose of this NPO is to make available standard clinical information based on various clinical guidelines, including JSLM2009, to the public. In 2005, we launched our website, in which easy-to-learn information on common clinical laboratory tests was presented. Through our actions, we have found that there are some problems with JSLM2009, as follows. The principal benefit of guidelines should be to improve the quality of care received by patients. However, JSLM2009 is too complicated to apply to daily clinical practice. The contents are too numerous and redundant. It resembles a textbook. The guideline refers to many other clinical guidelines. However, in those guidelines, evidence about what to recommend is often lacking, misleading, or misinterpreted. These problems should be overcome in the near future.