The development of laboratory diagnostics in the Polish academic centers till 1939. Part I. Partition of Poland

In the 19th century, clinicians focused their attention on the need to perform diagnostic tests (especially clinical chemistry tests) in order to support the process of diagnosis, therapeutic choice, and assessment of a patient’s health and as well as prognostic tools in a disease. The period of the formation of the laboratory diagnosis belongs to the time of the partition of Poland. This article presents the history of Medical Chemistry Departments in major academic centers in Poland. Therefore, the best developed and buoyant centers are discussed; those of Lvov, Krakow and Warsaw University. The paper shows the education systems of laboratory diagnostics, as well as difficulties stumbled upon in the clinical laboratories in these cities.