Self testing, an emerging component of clinical chemistry.

Self testing as a phase of health delivery has been utilized for approximately 70 years, but within the last two decades there has been an increasing interest in and use of self testing. The practice of self testing has a sound basis, which involves medical relevancy, cost containment, and convenience. It is reasonable to anticipate that self testing will increase in the future as medical needs and available procedures are established. The clinical chemist, the physician, and the industrial producer of test systems all have important roles in self testing. The clinical chemist, whether in a hospital laboratory or in an industrial setting, has the responsibility to create new self-testing procedures that represent expansion and improvement over those currently available. The clinical chemist also has a critical role in the evaluation of new self-testing procedures and in validating their capability of providing high-quality information. The provision of quality-assurance programs and proficiency programs for the user can most effectively be carried out by clinical chemists. The clinical chemist can also play an important role as a consultant, teacher/educator, and trouble shooter in recognizing and helping solve problems that may appear in various areas of self testing. The classic role of the physician has been to diagnose disorders of the patients and provide therapy for effective care. The role of the physician in self testing is quite comparable to his usual role, since the ultimate diagnosis of disease will be carried out by the physician and he will continue to be the source for definition of therapy. A major portion of self testing will be carried out with the recommendation of a physician, and he will maintain a role in the interpretation of results. The physician needs to be familiar with self-testing practices and procedures and be prepared to provide interpretation of self-testing results. Industry supplies an increasing proportion of reagent systems and instruments for the clinical laboratory. The supplying of reagent systems and small instruments for self testing is almost completely a role of industry. The creation and funding of new products for self testing will be provided by industry to a large extent. A critical function of industry is to provide high-quality products and efficient customer service to the self-testing component of health delivery. We have each played a role in self testing over a period of approximately 40 years. During this period self testing has become an important phase of clinical laboratory practice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)