[A report on staff development in advanced knowledge and technology of gene diagnosis for medical technologists by the Japanese Association of Medical Technologists: the view of medical technologists].

With advancement of the molecular biology, gene diagnosis is widely utilized in clinical application of medicine. For medical technologists, it is necessary to receive continued education to practice such advanced scientific trends. The Japanese Association of Medical Technologists established a working group for a staff development program of gene diagnosis and chromosome analysis in 1996, and has continued its activities in making inquiries about the present conditions, publishing a textbook, and providing seminars. The internal laboratory utilization of gene diagnosis was 8.7%(213 of 2437 hospitals). Based on the fact that about half of the hospitals use external laboratory, staff development for the internal utilization of gene diagnosis is an urgent issue. We have been providing seminars to meet the educational needs of our members. In addition to those activities, we have continued our efforts in providing a manual with clinically useful information, standardizing methods, establishing an information network, and conducting a controlled survey. The role of the working group is now shared by the local prefecture to further increase the numbers of those with expertise in gene diagnosis. We, medical technologists, need to have a global view of professional growth, and also to cooperate with academic societies related to gene diagnosis to establish a certification system.