[Status of the clinical laboratory in the mandatory postgraduate medical training system: in our Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine (KPUM) University Hospital].

Since the beginning of mandatory postgraduate medical training in 2004, our clinical laboratory has introduced an obligatory training program for all medical trainees in our university hospital. This program is a two-hour course consisting of Gram's staining method, the laboratory ordering system, blood gas analysis and personal protective equipment against hospital infection. In addition, four medical trainees had applied to study our advanced elective training program for clinical laboratory medical education in 2005. This program requires two months for each trainee, consisting of a three-step curriculum from "basic" to "maniac". In the "basic" step, each trainee studies to acquire fundamental knowledge and techniques in such fields as electrocardiography, ultrasonic cardiography, respiratory function, blood transfusion and laboratory hematology. Assistant work in the laboratory information office is also included in this step. On the other hand, highly specific laboratory techniques such as flow cytometry (FCM) and cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPX) are classified as "maniac". The remaining laboratory fields such as blood chemistry, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) or urinary sedimentation are classified as "special", and each trainee is expected to master them during the training period. To date, all trainees who have finished our elective training program feel moderate to great satisfaction. I believe that clinical laboratories in both university hospitals and clinical teaching hospitals play an important role in mandatory postgraduate medical training for each trainee to learn fundamental medical knowledge and techniques, and moreover, to learn how to work and co-operate with various co-medical partners.