Introduction
The Institute of Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pécs is the university's routine clinical diagnostic laboratory and also the largest laboratory diagnostic service provider in the South Transdanubia region. Our laboratory offers more than 250 types of tests, and we perform nearly 2.5 million tests annually. Our institute is a so-called FJ-3 type laboratory, which operates non-stop, 24 hours a day. In 2005, we expanded with several new locations, thus, in addition to the central department, our institute now consists of six additional, separate units within the university. In 2007, the GLIMS laboratory information system was introduced as part of the HEFOP 4.4 tender, which, integrated with the Clinical Center's eMedSolution system, enables a full range of online services.
Tasks
In addition to routine diagnostics, our institute also performs educational tasks, teaching clinical biochemistry in Hungarian, English, and German languages, as part of medical training, participates in medical diagnostic laboratory analytical training, and plays a central role in the training of laboratory diagnostic specialists and laboratory assistants. We also offer two doctoral programs (Significance of molecular pathological and laboratory studies in medical diagnostics and therapy; and Clinical aspects and pathobiochemistry of metabolic and endocrine diseases) within our university's postgraduate training, that provide opportunities to obtain a PhD degree.
We consider research and scientific activity with utmost importance, which is why we have placed great emphasis on the education of Undergraduate Research Society and PhD students since the establishment of our institute. Our well-equipped and constantly expanding equipment inventory is available to both students and partner institutions for collaborative research.
History
We have found no professional antecedents in the history of the Institute of Laboratory Medicine from the period when Erzsébet University was located in Bratislava and then moved to Pécs. Education and patient care began at the medical faculty in Pécs in 1924. At the same time, separate laboratories were established for the clinics. Among the clinical laboratories, the Internal Medicine Clinic Laboratory stands out, which was headed by Lóránd Jendrassik between 1926 and 1940, whose name became known primarily for his work on the classical determination of bilirubin. From 1947 to 1960, the university entrusted Mihály Halász, a private university lecturer and student of Jendrassik, with the management of the Internal Medicine Laboratory. At that time, the larger clinical units, such as the Surgery Clinic, the Pediatric Clinic, the Neurological Clinic, and the Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic, possessed not only research laboratories but also their own clinical diagnostic laboratories.
The establishment of the central laboratory unit that was administratively independent from the clinic and performed routine diagnostic tasks did not occur until later, in 1966. As we follow our history, we can see a number of name changes that reflect the developments that led to the current Institute of Laboratory Medicine over the decades.
