Integrated regional laboratory systems: implications for staffing and skill mix requirements.

Significant changes are occurring in the organization and delivery of clinical laboratory services. Many laboratorians are concerned that these changes will adversely affect the quality of these services as well as their own careers. The purpose of this paper is to review the changes occurring in health care and to discuss their impact on laboratory and other health-care services. It will present the concept of the postmodern laboratory and the skills and skill mix of personnel needed by the new organizational paradigm.