[Organization of laboratories in the German Democratic Republic]

The effectivity of the clinical medicine becomes increasingly dependent on the efficiency of medico-experimental subjects, to which belong pathological chemistry and clinical biochemistry as well as haematology. The scientifically proved increasing demands made on the laboratories concern the quality of the results of investigations, constantly increasing numbers of investigations as well as a considerable enlargement of the investigation programmes. Adequate developments of workman are not to be expected. The requirements are to be met by the increase of the working productivity, for which a good organisation of work the use of mechanisation and automatisation means for the elaboration of large series of investigations are the prerequisite. A high degree of centralisation ascertains the effectivity of the adequate investments. Exceeding the ascertained foundations for a project of organisation of the laboratory work in the GDR in the next time still various problems must be solved which especially influence the organisation. Among others they concern the necessary investigation programme for the general practitioner in an out-patient practice, moreover the establishment of investigation programmes for several levels of care, the necessary quality (precision and exactness) of the results of investigations, the suitableness of stripe tests and the influence of preanalytic factors and especially of the biorhythmics on the findings of investigations. The tendencies described are accompanied by the danger that the reciprocities between clinic and laboratory becoming increasingly more necessary for the interpretation and classification of laboratory findings into the symptom complex become rather loose. Therefore, it will be one of the most important tasks of future to develop together reorganisation and collaboration.