What clinical laboratories should undertake to involve clinical laboratory technicians in formulating a plan to reduce doctors’ working hours

Abstract

In Japan, the issue of overwork among doctors is a serious concern. To address this, from April 2024, new regulations will cap doctors’ overtime and holiday work hours. As a result, each medical facility must develop a plan to reduce doctors’ working hours. One proposed solution is task-shifting and task-sharing with clinical laboratory technicians. The Japan Association of Medical Technologists (JAMT) conducted surveys to understand the current situation of clinical laboratory technicians. The 2023 survey results indicated that 70% of facilities did not include their clinical laboratories in the internal meetings for developing these plans. To improve this trend, the analysis aimed to identify easy-to-implement strategies for facilities. It was found that facilities with good attendance at task-shifting and task-sharing training sessions had higher participation of clinical laboratory technicians in internal planning meetings. Therefore, it is urgent for those in management positions in clinical laboratories to emphasize the importance of task-shifting and task-sharing to facility administrators and to promote attendance at training sessions. Specifically, strategies to encourage younger technicians to attend and organizing training sessions at the facility’s expense are considered effective. This will likely lead to more proactive involvement of clinical laboratories in the planning process.