By Antonio Buñopresident of the Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine
Laboratory Medicine has undergone a great transformation in the last 50 years at an organizational, methodological and cultural level. Organizationally, there has been a significant consolidation and integration of clinical laboratories, as well as an outsourcing of services in order to reduce the costs of health care. The increasing automation of processes in laboratories has helped manage the increased demand for tests; while whate the current Covid-19 pandemic has only highlighted its essential role in improving health. As well as its contribution to the diagnostic capacity with the maximum quality guarantee for decision-making in prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and, ultimately, for the improvement of the health of our patients.
In view of its importance, The Spanish Society of Laboratory Medicine (SEQCML) has prepared the first White Paper on Laboratory Medicine in Spain in order to shed light and make clinical laboratories in Spain visible and thus obtain a current image of them, collecting information that until now we did not have within our reach. In particular, it allows us to know the reality of the profession, understand the size of the sector, the number of laboratories, the organizational structure, the response capacity, the professionals and the activity carried out. From these data, it is possible to analyze the current needs and those that are going to occur in the future, as well as evaluate the decisions to be made and act favoring the future of the profession.
The White Paper has provided us with the necessary information to detect the needs of the sector, such as the renewal of its professional staff. According to the data collected, clinical laboratories in Spain need places to renew their staff, which will involve around 20-25% of graduates in the next five years (23% of graduates are over 60 years of age). In the next 15 years, it will be necessary to renew more than half of the staff of clinical laboratories. The need for a generational change is not a minor issue: if the plans are not adapted in time to the expected demand, in a few years the shortage of professionals in the sector will begin to be noticed.
Another essential issue for the future of Laboratory Medicine, as stated in the document, is the unification of the Clinical Analysis and Clinical Biochemistry specialties into a single specialty that brings together the training of residents and increases the possibility of I work in all the autonomous communities. To achieve it, it will be necessary to increase the number of residents and thus compensate for the decline in professionals due to age.
All the members of the Board of Directors of the (SEQCML) have participated in the preparation of the White Paper on Laboratory Medicine and have had the collaboration of partners from different autonomous communities and an external consultant. Those who have determined that the activity of the Clinical Laboratory must commit to technological change and innovations in in vitro diagnosis. Although, for its implementation we need to improve the regulation of purchasing systems with public contracting so that they adjust to the reality of the laboratory.