The impact of task shifting/sharing to medical technologists on medical accidents: Impact assessment based on the Reiwa 5th organizational fact-finding survey and member awareness survey

Abstract

In the medical field in Japan, shortening the working hours of doctors has become an important issue, and restrictions on overtime work and holiday working hours for doctors were established from April of Reiwa 6. Each medical facility needs to formulate a plan to shorten working hours, and one way to do this is to shift or share tasks to medical laboratory technicians. The Japan Association of Clinical Laboratory Technologists conducts a fact-finding survey to understand the current situation of clinical laboratory technicians and publishes the results. In this study, we analyzed the results and examined the impact of task shifting/sharing from physicians to clinical laboratory technicians on the occurrence of accidents. As a result, it was found that the incidence of accidents tended to be higher in facilities with inadequate education and training, but the occurrence of accidents was suppressed in facilities with appropriate education, training, and management systems. In conclusion, task shifting/sharing to medical technologists can be safely implemented under appropriate education, training and management systems. This is expected to encourage doctors and other healthcare professionals to work together to provide quality healthcare services and create a sustainable working environment.