ABSTRACT
Pathology and laboratory medicine face major challenges, including multiplying government regulations, increasing competition, decreasing reimbursement, and loss of directorial control. Other industries facing similar threats have found solutions in a variety of collaborative strategies. Several examples of laboratory collaboration and a template for evaluation of potential joint operations are presented. Successful strategies will make it easier to handle meddlesome regulations, increase productivity and decrease costs, allow pathologists to retain control, and make the laboratory more profitable and competitive.
Subject(s)
Interinstitutional Relations , Laboratories/organization & administration , Pathology, Clinical/organization & administration , Cost Control , Economic Competition , Facility Regulation and Control/trends , Feasibility Studies , Forecasting , Humans , Laboratories/economics , Laboratories/trends , Organizational Objectives , Pathology, Clinical/economics , Pathology, Clinical/trends , Planning Techniques , Reimbursement Mechanisms/trendsABSTRACT
In this article, the author explains the management and public relations benefits of the Annual Report, who should prepare which components, and what professional, technical, and financial information each component of the report should contain.
Subject(s)
Annual Reports as Topic , Hospital Departments/organization & administration , Organization and Administration , Pathology Department, Hospital/organization & administrationABSTRACT
The structure of the duodenal mucosa was evaluated in duodenal biopsy samples obtained from patients with moderate renal failure (MRF) and in dialysis patients (HD) in an effort to examine the possibility that changes in duodenal mucosa may contribute to the impaired calcium absorption in renal failure (RF). The effect of therapy with 1,25(OH)2D3 on the duodenal mucosa in the HD patients was also studied. The results show that both MRF and HD patients have reduction in calcium reabsorption and in the length of their intestinal villi and crypts of Lieberkuhn. In the HD patients, these structural changes were more severe. Treatment with 1,25(OH)2D3 produced significant improvement in calcium reabsorption (P less than 0.01) as well as in length of villus and crypt (P less than 0.02) and increased mitotic activity in the crypts (P 0.02). Electron microscopy revealed the microvilli to be shorter, irregularly distributed, moth-eaten, and grainy, with these abnormalities disappearing after treatment. The data show that duodenal mucosa in RF exhibits structural abnormalities, which were normalized after 1,25(OH)2D3 therapy, and suggest that these derangements may play a role in the defective calcium reabsorption in RF.
