The elimination of pathology and laboratory medicine from the curriculum in many medical schools, and consequent lack of knowledge of basic science among junior doctors, are jeopardising patient safety, according to a report in the Annals of Clinical Biochemistry.
Dr Danielle Freedman, a spokesperson for the Association for Clinical Biochemistry, remarked: “With no standardisation of the medical curriculum for the teaching of basic sciences, how will junior doctors become competent in requesting and interpreting investigations in laboratory medicine?
“Juniors are performing tests at the wrong time, and sometimes with little understanding of what to do with the results when they get them back from the lab. Even worse, they are teaching other juniors, so bad practice is becoming ingrained.”
