[Contribution of clinical laboratories to the diabetes care team--efforts in our hospital].

The traditional role of clinical laboratory technicians is to perform biochemical and physiological tests quickly and accurately in the laboratory. Currently, however, clinical laboratory technicians should look out outside the laboratory because of marked changes in circumstances, such as recent advances of medical technology and the development of the team approach to medical care by many medical specialists. The team approach for diabetic patients is a representative case, in which clinical laboratory technicians can play an active role more than before. At our Sumitomo Hospital, clinical laboratory technicians joined the diabetes care team in 2004. Our activities are wide-ranging, for instance, individual advice regarding laboratory tests, group lectures and making individual data sheet that shows graphs of the improvement of test values, named "Valuable Information". We here describe the present activities in our hospital, evaluate the problems and issues, and discuss the favorable image of clinical laboratory technicians expected in the future.