A proposal of essential laboratory tests, made by the Japan Society of Clinical Pathology in 1989, was applied to the education of medical students in Tokushima University. The effects of this proposal on lecture and practice of laboratory medicine were evaluated by obtaining information through a questionnaire from students and clinicians. Our curriculum of laboratory medicine generally received good assessment from students and my opinion and practical training on essential laboratory tests were understood by them. The mean coefficient of variation of intra-assay precision was 3.7% and mean recovery was 70.3 at the measurement for serum protein concentration, which is one of the items in the essential laboratory tests. However, the quality of this experiment was not in accordance with the scholarly attainments or the results of the state examination for physicians. The clinicians in service at the medical school have more selected items than items of essential laboratory tests both at the initial outpatient examination and at hospital admission. Therefore, essential laboratory tests in daily primary medical care may be considered from a different standpoint, when used in the education of laboratory medicine.