The Clinical Laboratory service has fulfilled a social function of great importance as support for medical diagnosis for many years, however in recent times it has undergone a great transformation due to advances in the different areas of knowledge that make up this professional task and the advancement in technology that has impacted the equipment traditionally used to carry out diagnostic tests, advancing towards automation and telemedicine for patient care.
Among the areas that the clinical laboratory service involves, the area of immunology has undergone important changes, delving into all the mechanisms involved in the defense system of our body, coupled with the impact of its application in diagnostic methods based on immunological reactions. ; Likewise, in the area of infectology, it is now necessary to know new pathogenic agents that affect human health, as well as the new diagnostic methods that must be applied to establish their presence and degree of pathogenicity. As far as transfusion medicine is concerned, the support of the blood bank and the updating of the clinical laboratory staff is essential to apply the new rules and procedures that its proper functioning implies.
In addition to the above, a new approach to pathology and molecular diagnosis has been developed, which implies an emerging professional field for clinical laboratory personnel. Molecular diagnosis is undergoing extensive development throughout the world and has become a tool that has revolutionized all areas of medicine. With the support of these new technologies, medical sciences, which at one time had the purpose of curing and/or preventing diseases, now have a predictive and personalized approach, thanks to the molecular study of nucleic acids of both human beings and animals. pathogenic agents, their products, as well as the interactions between them. This new diagnostic orientation that the clinical laboratory must offer has important and wide applications in different pathological states, such as in infectious diseases for the identification of microorganisms, detection of mutations and assessment of resistance to therapeutic agents; in neoplastic diseases for the identification of causal and susceptibility genes for different types of cancer; in chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disorders, diabetes mellitus, etc.; in hematological diseases for the diagnosis and identification of carriers of hereditary hemolytic anemias, coagulopathies and especially in leukemias, in which it allows the evaluation of the patient’s prognosis, their response to treatment, as well as the minimal residual disease.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Health has issued regulations that establish the obligation to apply quality assurance programs, in addition to “developing research aimed at solving the problem of those laboratory studies in which the quality is not satisfactory (2 )”, so the training of clinical laboratory personnel in this area should be strengthened.
In addition, clinical laboratory professionals, according to the type of service offered by the institution, as well as the needs and characteristics of the population, must attend to certain specific areas such as genetics, endocrinology or histocompatibility studies; it is also necessary that they venture into determining the pharmacogenomic profile of patients, in order to contribute to the reduction of adverse drug reactions.
Likewise, within the area of quality assurance, there is a trend towards the accreditation of laboratories by the Entidad Mexicana de Acreditación, A.C. (3) as recognition of technical competence and credibility of the work carried out, an activity that must be part of the tasks carried out by the clinical laboratory staff.
Due to the foregoing, the need arises to offer a professionalizing postgraduate degree, in which the personnel who work in clinical laboratories find a space for updating, which allows them to develop a professional practice according to the characteristics of advancement in knowledge and technology. , providing higher quality care to patients who require clinical diagnostic services, in addition to having the knowledge and updating necessary to obtain professional certification.
MISSION
The Master’s Degree in Clinical Laboratory is an academic program in charge of training human resources with deep knowledge in the different branches that make up the professional work in the clinical laboratory, supported by innovation, quality and individualized attention.
VISION
By the year 2025, the Master’s Degree in Clinical Laboratory is seen as a postgraduate degree of excellence, recognized for its quality at the regional, national and international levels. Graduates of this program will have a positive impact on the improvement of clinical laboratory services under quality assurance programs.
