| pubmed-article:1759144 | pubmed:abstractText | The scientific disciplines of laboratory medicine are analyzed from the point of view of history and the philosophy of science. The results of this study are the following: 1. Laboratory medicine is the name of a group of subjects which exist in an interdisciplinary area between medicine and science. 2. Historical development shows that these subjects arose in the 19th century when medicine adopted the "natural scientific method" and became "scientific medicine". 3. Clinical chemistry, as one example of these subjects, is analyzed in detail to understand the thinking process and the scientific method. This subject is, on the one hand, a "theoretical discipline" (like all of the natural sciences) but, on the other hand, it is a typical "practical scientific discipline" (which like clinical medicine is aimed at certain decisions and actions). 4. The disciplines of laboratory medicine have developed typical "professions" mainly because of their application in clinical practice and their commitment to patient care. | lld:pubmed |
