SYSTEMATIC TOP-DOWN APPROACH TO CLINICAL-CHEMISTRY

This paper introduces a systematic approach to organizing the discipli ne of clinical chemistry. The approach is called a top-down, systems a pproach because it starts at the top with the most general concepts an d works down through less general concepts to the most specific detail s and techniques. The hypothesis is that the discipline can be organiz ed into hierarchical levels of functional processes and operational ap proaches to those processes. The functional processes represent what c linical scientists do; the operational approaches represent how they d o it. Because functional processes change little, if at all, with time , they are use to develop a stable infrastructure or framework for the discipline. That infrastructure is then used to organize and understa nd operational approaches that tend to change rapidly with time in res ponse to technological advances. This paper begins with the most gener al functional processes and then uses selected examples of the more ge neral functions to illustrate lower hierarchical levels of functional processes and operational approaches.