What type of work?
Knowing the contents of body fluids can help doctors make a diagnosis or indicate if an organ is not working properly. Fluids such as blood, urine, saliva and spinal fluid are tested in laboratories and the results are interpreted by pathologists and scientists. For example, the level of sodium or glucose in the blood helps doctors diagnose and treat diseases like kidney failure or diabetes. By looking at a range of chemicals, sometimes over several days, clinical biochemists provide information about how a patient’s heart, liver, kidneys or pancreas are working.
Pathologists in this specialty often hold clinics for patients with chemical disorders such as high cholesterol.
What skills are needed?
As in the other pathology specialties, those working in clinical biochemistry need a good general medical knowledge so that they can interpret test results for individual patients. They also need good communications skills so they can pass on their expertise to other doctors and to patients. Leadership and organisational skills are also essential when running a laboratory and interacting with the many other specialties that rely on the service.
Many clinical biochemistry tests can now be performed at the patient’s bedside or in their home. This is called ‘point-of-care testing’ and has the advantage that patients may not have to travel to the hospital or leave their bed to have their test. The results are usually available immediately so there’s no waiting to find the answer. This exciting development is welcomed by those working in clinical biochemistry as it can improve the service that patients receive. However, not all tests are at the same high standard as those in the clinical biochemistry laboratory, so care must be taken to make sure that the tests are accurate. Pathologists are involved in important debates to make sure that the tests available outside the lab are safe and reliable.
Did you know? The current test for diabetes involves a chemical test for glucose in the blood, but originally doctors tested the patient’s urine by tasting it to see if it was sweet!
