Microbiology is the department most likely to have a reduction in staff as a lot of the tests are going from labor intensive plating and reading to simple PCR. Still some stuff like veginal wet preps and gram stains will need to be done STAT.
Blood bank is already pretty automated. Negative type and screens can be just sent across and verified on the LIS and have been that way for years. Its when there is a positive screen that it becomes an issue when a manual workup is done. Also automating the more complex procedures like elutions and warm antibodies is close to impossible. Then there is the dilemma of assigning short dated units etc.
Hematology is mostly automated already (and has been for decades). But unusual blood/urine still needs to be checked under the microscope.
Chemistry is fully automated already and has been since the 1990s. Much of my time in this department is spent fixing machines, and much of the older machines are actually more reliable.
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