Clinical Medical Laboratory Department

The Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine of the Affiliated Provincial Hospital of Shandong First Medical University has for many years remained patient-centered and made discipline development its mission, and has developed into a comprehensive medical laboratory integrating medical care, teaching, and scientific research. The Department is a Key Laboratory of Medicine and Health of Shandong Province, one of the first batch of national “Pilot Units for the Clinical Application of High-Throughput Gene Sequencing Technology,” the chairing institution for the Laboratory Medicine Branch of the Shandong Medical Association, the Shandong Clinical Laboratory Center, the Laboratory Medicine Branch of the Shandong Hospital Association, and other organizations, and a National Standardized Residency Training Base (Laboratory Medicine specialty).

The laboratory in the Central Campus covers more than 7000 m² and has more than 290 major pieces of equipment and more than 640 auxiliary pieces of equipment. The laboratory in the East Campus covers more than 1500 m² and has more than 160 major pieces of equipment and more than 340 auxiliary pieces of equipment.

The Department of Clinical Laboratory Medicine comprises 6 clinical disciplines—the Department of Clinical Basic Laboratory Testing, Department of Clinical Biochemical Testing, Department of Clinical Immunological Testing, Department of Clinical Microbiological Testing, Department of Clinical Emergency Laboratory Testing, and Department of Clinical Cytology and Molecular Genetics Testing—as well as 2 subspecialties, Molecular Diagnostics and Reproductive Genetics. The Department currently has more than 40 personnel with senior professional titles, 3 postdoctoral fellows, more than 40 PhD holders, 3 doctoral supervisors, and 12 master’s supervisors.

The Department is equipped with multiple large-scale fully automated laboratory lines, such as a fully automated hospital blood collection management system, a fully automated blood and body fluid analyzer, a fully automated coagulation analyzer, a fully automated urine formed-element analyzer, a fully automated biochemical analyzer, a fully automated electrochemiluminescence analyzer, a chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay analyzer, nucleic acid amplification instruments, etc. It also has equipment for the clinical application of other cutting-edge technologies, such as library preparation instruments, second-generation sequencers, biochip readers, high-resolution gas-phase mass spectrometers, plasma mass spectrometers, liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometers, 12-color flow cytometers, fully automated chromosome harvesters, fully automated chromosome scanners, etc. In an era of rapidly advancing medical science and technology, the Department has also consistently remained at the forefront of technology, with capabilities such as noninvasive prenatal DNA screening and prenatal whole-exome sequencing technology, prenatal diagnosis throughout the entire pregnancy (chorionic villi, amniotic fluid, umbilical cord blood), the diagnosis and prenatal diagnosis of chromosomal microdeletion and microduplication syndromes, and chromosome karyotype analysis technology. The Department conducts more than 600 clinical testing items, including more than 200 special items such as vitamin, trace-element, drug, and poison testing based on mass spectrometry technology; drug-related gene mutation and fusion-gene testing based on molecular diagnostic technology; and cytokine testing based on flow cytometry technology. As the hospital’s exemplary department for medical quality management, the Department introduced the ISO15189 medical laboratory management concept in 2010 and has consistently integrated it with the evaluation standards for tertiary hospitals in its self-management.

The Department undertakes 6 national continuing education programs each year and admits more than 100 trainees for further study from within and outside the province, as well as undergraduate and junior-college interns from various universities. The Department currently has nearly 20 instructors at the National Standardized Residency Training Base with provincial-level or higher qualifications and trains more than 50 standardized residency trainees.

The Department places strong emphasis on scientific research and is dedicated to academic research in aging, tumors, infections, rare diseases, and other areas. Over the past 5 years, the Department has undertaken 11 national-level projects, 32 provincial- and ministerial-level research projects, and 13 department- and bureau-level projects, with cumulative research funding of more than RMB 10 million. It has received 1 First Prize and 1 Second Prize of the Ministry of Education Natural Science Award; 1 First Prize and 1 Second Prize of the Shandong Science and Technology Progress Award; 1 Third Prize of the Shandong Natural Science Award; 2 Second Prizes and 1 Third Prize of the Shandong Medical Science and Technology Award; 1 Second Prize and 1 Third Prize of the Shandong Soft Science Outstanding Achievement Award; and 1 Shandong Higher Education Institutions Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award. It has obtained more than 10 national utility model patents. As first author/corresponding author, it has published more than 100 SCI papers, more than 20 papers in journals of the Zhonghua series, and served as chief editor of more than 20 scholarly works.