[Emergency tests in the central laboratory of a hospital (author's transl)]

In 1975 an emergency laboratory, which is quite independent of the routine laboratory, was established within the central laboratory. The emergency laboratory carries out urgent chemical and hematological analyses and coagulation tests around the clock. As accelerated and late tests as well as not urgent tests on Saturdays and Sundays are done in the routine laboratory it was possible to restrict the demands on the emergency laboratory largely to tests of clinical emergency cases. One medical technician is permanently present in the emergency laboratory, one clinical chemist is on call. The emergency laboratory is subject to a severe quality control to ensure precise and correct results which correspond with the results of the routine laboratory. In 1980 56,392 emergency tests were carried out. These are 5.7% of all tests done in the central laboratory. On the average it takes 21.6 minutes for analytical work from the arrival of the sample until transmitting the result. The costs of the emergency tests amount to 3 to 4 times the costs of the mechanized routine tests. In some foreign hospitals the integration of "actualized" routine tests into the emergency laboratory has led to a share of 25% of the total amount of tests and to the full mechanisation with an own EDV system. These tests should not be carried out in the emergency laboratory. They should be carried out in the "actualized"routine laboratory with the help of a new generation of analyzers and a new concept for electronic data processing.