Laboratory Medicine

The Laboratory Department of the Affiliated Stomatological Hospital of Nanjing University Medical School (Nanjing Stomatological Hospital) was established in March 1964. It is a comprehensive laboratory integrating clinical testing, teaching, and research. It currently has more than 250 square meters of laboratory space and six laboratories: clinical testing, biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, blood bank, and preliminary HIV screening. After years of effort, the department has gradually developed into a modern medical technology department that is relatively large among local stomatological hospitals, with advanced instruments and equipment, strong technical capabilities, and a complete range of testing items. The Laboratory Department is an important department that provides objective diagnostic evidence for clinical diagnosis, treatment, research, and health examinations. Its main work is to provide accurate and scientific laboratory evidence for the clinical diagnosis of oral and systemic diseases, the monitoring of treatment efficacy, and the estimation of prognosis, from the levels of biochemistry, hematology, cytology, immunology, molecular biology, and even genetics; it also provides clinical support for the rational use of antibiotics through pathogen studies, clinical drug-susceptibility testing, and monitoring of bacterial drug resistance. The department’s instruments and equipment have a total value of more than 5 million yuan. It has more than ten large items of advanced equipment, including fully automated biochemical analyzers, fully automated blood cell counters, fully automated coagulation analyzers, an automatic bacterial culture and identification system, enzyme immunoassay analyzers, urine formed-element analyzers, and chemiluminescence analyzers. It can systematically perform examinations in clinical body-fluid analysis, clinical chemistry, clinical microbiology, clinical immunology, and crossmatching, completing more than 300,000 three-major-routine examinations, more than 160,000 biochemical examinations, more than 100,000 immunological examinations, and more than 1,200 microbiological examinations annually; its data management has been incorporated into the hospital’s PACS information system. Every year, it also continuously develops new services and technologies according to clinical needs and scientific and technological progress. The Laboratory Department currently has 5 professional and technical staff members, including 2 deputy chief technicians and 3 supervising technicians; 1 has a master’s degree and 4 have bachelor’s degrees. Department staff have published more than 20 professional papers in various statistical-source journals. For many years, the department has emphasized quality control, maintained internal quality control, and participated in the interlaboratory quality assessment organized by the Jiangsu Provincial Clinical Laboratory Center, receiving an excellent rating every year. Under the hospital’s modern management system, the department strictly manages the laboratory, improves its work systems, ensures quality control throughout the process, regularly maintains and calibrates instruments, and strictly reviews reports to ensure testing quality. During blood collection, staff use one needle, one tube, one towel, and one tourniquet per person, follow strict aseptic procedures, strengthen awareness of asepsis, and reinforce laboratory biosafety management to prevent the spread of hazardous factors. The Laboratory Department not only provides medical laboratory testing for patients and clinical medical and nursing departments, but also provides medical laboratory interpretation and consultation services. It adheres to a patient-centered and quality-focused approach, strengthens team spirit, and emphasizes professional team development. “Dedication to the job, devotion of care, teamwork and cooperation, and striving for excellence” is the department’s spirit. It continuously improves service processes and attitudes, serving clinical departments and patients according to the principles of high quality, accuracy, speed, and convenience.