Laboratory Medicine

The Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University was established in Chongqing in 1957 after relocating from the hospital affiliated with the former Shanghai First Medical College (now Fudan University). Through the joint efforts of several generations, it has developed into a clinical laboratory diagnostic laboratory integrating medical care, teaching, and research. It currently has six subspecialty laboratories: Clinical Chemistry, Clinical Immunology, Clinical Hematology and Body Fluidology, Clinical Microbiology, Clinical Molecular Biology, and Emergency Laboratory Medicine. The department includes the Laboratory of the Main Hospital, the Laboratory of the First Branch Hospital, the Laboratory of the Jingshan Campus, and the Laboratory of the Qinggang Elderly Care Center, with more than 6,000 square meters of service space. Figure: Group photo of all employees of the Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine The Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine is a national key discipline in Clinical Laboratory Diagnostics, a first-batch national clinical key specialty development unit, a national standardized residency training base for clinical laboratory medicine, a national practical training base for bacterial resistance surveillance, the Chongqing Monitoring Center of the National Bacterial Resistance Surveillance Network, a provincial-level center of the National Fungal Disease Surveillance Network (Chongqing), and the Chongqing Medical Laboratory Medicine Medical Quality Control Center. It is also the first medical laboratory in Chongqing to pass ISO15189 accreditation and American CAP certification. In 1999, it was awarded the national title of “Youth Civilization” by the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League. In 2010, it was among the first to be awarded the status of a national clinical key specialty development unit, and was awarded the titles of “Chongqing Women’s Civilization Post” and “Chongqing Outstanding Youth Collective.” In 2012, it again received the national title of “Youth Civilization,” and in 2017 it was named a “National Women’s Civilization Post.” In 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2021, it received the dual honors of National Outstanding Provincial Bacterial Resistance Surveillance Center and Outstanding Practical Training Base four times. From 2020 to 2022, it was named a Chongqing Outstanding Quality Control Center three consecutive times. II. Medical Services (I) Complete subspecialties, comprehensive facilities and platforms, and extensive service capabilities The Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine has a complete range of subspecialties and outstanding capabilities in the diagnosis and monitoring of difficult and critical diseases. It performs more than 500 testing items and has become a large, first-class comprehensive laboratory in western China, with advanced equipment, strong technical capabilities, a comprehensive range of services, complete technical platforms, and broad outreach capacity. Based on second-generation sequencing technology, it established Chongqing’s first fully localized, end-to-end pathogen metagenomic sequencing platform in a laboratory department. Using a MALDI-TOF MS technology platform, it established Chongqing’s Center for the Isolation and Identification of Rare and Difficult Pathogens, providing strong support for the diagnosis of severe, difficult, and rare infectious diseases. In the laboratory diagnosis of thrombotic and hemorrhagic diseases, it is the laboratory in China performing the largest number of testing items and can provide strong laboratory evidence for the diagnosis of coagulation and bleeding-related diseases. It possesses advanced and comprehensive molecular biology technology platforms, including gene amplification, flow cytometry, microarray, high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS), and gene sequencing. Clinical Microbiology Testing Platform Thrombosis and Hemostasis Testing Platform Molecular Biology Technology Platform (II) A well-structured personnel echelon and strong talent The department has 124 employees: 21 doctors, 28 master’s degree holders, and 59 bachelor’s degree holders; 4 senior professionals, 22 associate senior professionals, and 35 intermediate-level professionals. It has 3 doctoral supervisors and 16 master’s supervisors. The discipline includes a number of outstanding young and middle-aged professionals, including recipients of the National Excellent Young Scientists Fund, national young and middle-aged leading scientific and technological innovation talents of the Ministry of Science and Technology, principal investigators of National Key R&D Program projects, leading experts of Chongqing Chief Expert Studios, recipients of the Chongqing Outstanding Young Scientists Fund, leaders of Chongqing outstanding young and middle-aged medical teams, young top talents under Chongqing’s Special Support Plan, and high-level young and middle-aged medical talents in Chongqing. III. Teaching The Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine is the department where the Clinical Microbiology Teaching and Research Section of the School of Laboratory Medicine of Chongqing Medical University is located. It takes the lead in teaching the undergraduate course Clinical Microbiology Testing Techniques and core postgraduate courses, and participates in teaching undergraduate courses including Clinical Immunology Techniques and Medical Laboratory Management. It participated in compiling the national unified undergraduate textbooks in laboratory medicine, Clinical Microbiology Testing Techniques and National Clinical Laboratory Operating Procedures; among the contributors, 1 was editor-in-chief, 1 was deputy editor-in-chief, and 8 were contributing authors. It participates in the theoretical and practical teaching of Clinical Skills at the First School of Clinical Medicine. It participates in pre-job training for standardized trainees and specialized nurse training in clinical departments including Neurology and Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine. IV. Research In recent years, the Department of Medical Laboratory Medicine of the First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University has received approval for 1 key project under the National Key R&D Program special project “Medical Treatment and Diagnostic Equipment and Biomedical Materials” and 14 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. It has published more than 130 SCI papers, including 11 papers with an impact factor >10, received 2 provincial- and ministerial-level awards for scientific and technological achievements, and obtained 9 authorized national invention patents. V. Work of the Quality Control Center and public welfare services Relying on the Chongqing Medical Laboratory Medicine Medical Quality Control Center, the Chongqing Bacterial Resistance Surveillance Network, and the Fungal Disease Surveillance Center, the department improves the professional and technical capabilities of regional laboratory personnel through multiple dimensions and measures, including sending technology to primary-level institutions, expert face-to-face consultations, various forms of quality supervision and technical guidance, regularly holding laboratory medicine forums, microbiology salons, practical training courses at the bacterial resistance surveillance practice base, clinical molecular biology technology training courses, and “Golden Microscope” online morphology training, and accepting medical laboratory professionals of different levels from hospitals at all levels for further training. Under the leadership of the Health Commission, it launched mutual recognition of laboratory results in 2012. It successively established an organizational structure for mutual recognition of laboratory results, improved the quality supervision mechanism, and continuously advanced mutual recognition at different levels, in batches, and in an all-round manner through on-site inspections, fresh-blood comparisons, and personnel training, achieving remarkable results. It helped 40 districts and counties fully establish district/county laboratory quality control centers, forming a hierarchical management mechanism. Through coordinated action among the municipality, districts, and counties, it promoted comprehensive mutual recognition of 26 testing items at 65 medical institutions. Together with the Sichuan Laboratory Quality Control Center, it established the “Sichuan–Chongqing Expert Group for Mutual Recognition of Laboratory Results,” created normalized cross-regional quality control standards and mechanisms, and facilitated comprehensive mutual recognition of 45 laboratory results among tertiary A public general hospitals in Sichuan and Chongqing. VI. Informatization Development Relying on a comprehensive laboratory management system, the laboratory information system has complete functions and covers all pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical processes, including sample collection and receipt, laboratory quality control, automatic report review and release, and data analysis. The laboratory management system enables information-based management of documents, supplies, equipment, and personnel, improves management efficiency, enables comprehensive and precise control of management work, and achieves refined management.