[The Unit Use Situation and Problems of the Examination of Blood Count in Fukushima].

Abstract

In comprehensive health check performed in Japan, many errors have been found that were caused by man- ually transcribing family doctor's reports or commissioned health check company's reports to Medical Examina- tion Record and Results Report. Since those errors included unit's error of blood tests that caused digits differ- ences, we hereby present the result of an investigation on current situation of blood test reporting units in Japan. Results showed that, in prefectural medical institutions, only a few facilities used international units in reporting units of blood tests. However, most of the domestic or overseas quality control programs used in- ternational units, except for that conducted by the Japan Medical Association. We consider that it might be possible to prevent medical malpractices caused by erroneous judgment on health check results, by unifying the blood test reporting units upon sharing patients' information among medical facilities. [Letter].