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Use, and abuse, of the telephone in clinical laboratories: a simple solution.

The telephone dominates the operation of the reporting area in clinical laboratories. Not only is the normal work pattern disrupted by staff continually having to answer the telephone but the efficiency with which these staff function can be seriously compromised. It is significant that even a highly organised, totally integrated, clinical laboratory in the United States can suffer from this problem (Elevitch, 1972). In the Department of Clinical Biochemistry at University Hospital, we have devised a system of dealing with the abuse (and use) of the telephone which has considerably improved our operating efficiency. Before describing this system, it is necessary to outline briefly our laboratory organisation as it differs slightly from the more conventional system in use in the United Kingdom and in North America. The Department of Clinical Biochemistry does 1-4 million tests annually (or about 4 million units defined by Statistics Canada, 1976) and is staffed, by shifts, 24 hours each day except for overnight on Saturdays, Sundays, and statutory holidays when the workload is only sufficient to require an 'on-call' cover. Each main division of the laboratory (automated analyses, microchemistry, enzymology, and endocrinology) operates as a self-contained unit with six or less technologists under the direction ofahighly experienced charge technologist. These units receive specimens ready for analysis from our specimen preparation room, and then analyse and report the results independently of the other units within the department. The results were manually collated, in the reporting office, by a departmental secretary, using a cumulative master card system (ie, separate cards for automated analyses, urine chemistry, enzymology, toxicology and trace metals, endocrinology)