Automation in clinical chemistry

Since automation in clinical chemistry has not yet come up with a device in which feedback principles have been applied and since the adjustments of the device are made by the operator rather than by the machine, in the present discussion the word automation (from the adjec-... 

M13. Mitchell, F. L., Present and future trends of automation in clinical chemistry. Proc. 7th Int. Congr. Clin. Chem., Geneva/Evian, 1969. Meth. Clin. Chem. 1, 180-190. Karger, Basel, 1970. 

Ml. Marsh, W. H., Automation in Clinical Chemistry. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1963. 

W3. Whitby, L. G., Automation in clinical chemistry, with special reference to the AutoAnalyzer. Brit. Med. J. II, 895-899 (1964). 

The first automation in clinical chemistry laboratories was applied primarily to sample handling and processing in the late 1950s. This emphasis can be attributed both to the quantity of specimens and to the state of technology. 

The developments of Beckman, Orion and Technicon (Analyzers for Na , K" ", Ca and Crions) represent impressive examples of automation in clinical chemistry using ion-selective electrodes. Normally the result is reported in meq/1 within about 3 minutes, which is accurate to about 2%. These automated instruments operate at optimum temperatures (37°C for Ca, room temperature in other cases) and are self-standard-izing with the help of an inner calibration solution. As an indication of the reproducibility of these direct potentiometric methods as compared to other techniques (for example flame photometry in the case of cations or coulometry for chloride), the correlation coefficients lie above 0.98 in all cases [246,247]. The correlation coefficients between whole blood and serum samples are 0.961 for Na", 0.962 for K, 0.976 for Ca " and 0.991 for CP [248]. 

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