Effect of assigning a medical technologist in a ward in large-scale facilities

Abstract

Medical technologists monitor and check patients’ clinical condition and treatment. They should cooperate with doctors, nurses and other medical staff members and show their ability to patients. The effect of assigning a medical technologist in a ward was studied, for which cooperation with a hospital was requested by the Japanese Association of Medical Technologists (JAMT). I obtained agreement with a hospital proprietor. Regarding the management of a hospital ward with the cooperation of medical technicians, this study showed the importance of a medical treatment team and also the lack of doctors and nurses. After selecting a ward and setting the objectives and contents of this study, we conducted a preliminary training and surveyed the actual work conditions of a medical technician in a ward with a questionnaire. Patient information management took an average of 91.3 minutes for a medical technician to perform in the ward. Electrocardiography took an average of 74.8 minutes in terms of business content for a medical technician in the ward. Taken together, a technician spent a total of 6 hours and 24.1 minutes to carry out the duties in the ward. Regarding the questionnaire responses, “Activities related to a laboratory test seem to decrease” as a result of holding conferences with a medical technician, a sense of expectation of a team, participation in classes and committee meetings before and after actual inspection by a doctor and a nurse. The evaluation showed a significant improvements when a medical technician was included in the team. Analysis of the responses of the patients to the questionnaire also suggested a significant contributions of medical technicians to their clinical condition. Medical technicians have specialized skills and may contribute to meeting medical needs in a hospital.