Difference between revisions of "Pathology reports"

Jump to navigation Jump to search
53 bytes removed ,  04:35, 14 July 2015
tweak language
(tweak language)
Line 3: Line 3:
The term ''sign out'' is from when one used to actually sign the reports.
The term ''sign out'' is from when one used to actually sign the reports.


The key point in report writing is that the report should be precise, complete and easy-to-understand.  Many pathology reports are misunderstood by surgeons; one study suggests that it is 30%!<ref name=pmid10888781>{{Cite journal  | last1 = Powsner | first1 = SM. | last2 = Costa | first2 = J. | last3 = Homer | first3 = RJ. | title = Clinicians are from Mars and pathologists are from Venus. | journal = Arch Pathol Lab Med | volume = 124 | issue = 7 | pages = 1040-6 | month = Jul | year = 2000 | doi = 10.1043/0003-9985(2000)1241040:CAFMAP2.0.CO;2 | PMID = 10888781 }}</ref>
The key point in report writing is that the report should be precise, complete and easy-to-understand.  Many pathology reports, unfortunately, are misunderstood by surgeons; one study suggests that it is 30%!<ref name=pmid10888781>{{Cite journal  | last1 = Powsner | first1 = SM. | last2 = Costa | first2 = J. | last3 = Homer | first3 = RJ. | title = Clinicians are from Mars and pathologists are from Venus. | journal = Arch Pathol Lab Med | volume = 124 | issue = 7 | pages = 1040-6 | month = Jul | year = 2000 | doi = 10.1043/0003-9985(2000)1241040:CAFMAP2.0.CO;2 | PMID = 10888781 }}</ref>


==Standards==
==Standards==
Line 10: Line 10:
There is no universal standard; however, there is a push to standardize by the ''Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology'',<ref>URL: [http://www.adasp.org/papers/position/Standardization.htm http://www.adasp.org/papers/position/Standardization.htm]. Accessed on: 6 September 2012.</ref> among others.
There is no universal standard; however, there is a push to standardize by the ''Association of Directors of Anatomic and Surgical Pathology'',<ref>URL: [http://www.adasp.org/papers/position/Standardization.htm http://www.adasp.org/papers/position/Standardization.htm]. Accessed on: 6 September 2012.</ref> among others.


Standards lead to uniformity and consistency.<ref name=pmid7878300>{{cite journal |author=Leslie KO, Rosai J |title=Standardization of the surgical pathology report: formats, templates, and synoptic reports |journal=Semin Diagn Pathol |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=253–7 |year=1994 |month=November |pmid=7878300 |doi= |url=}}</ref>
Standards appear to lead to uniformity and consistency.<ref name=pmid7878300>{{cite journal |author=Leslie KO, Rosai J |title=Standardization of the surgical pathology report: formats, templates, and synoptic reports |journal=Semin Diagn Pathol |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=253–7 |year=1994 |month=November |pmid=7878300 |doi= |url=}}</ref>


Something close to a standard is laid-out in by Goldsmith et al.<ref name=pmid18834219>{{Cite journal  | last1 = Goldsmith | first1 = JD. | last2 = Siegal | first2 = GP. | last3 = Suster | first3 = S. | last4 = Wheeler | first4 = TM. | last5 = Brown | first5 = RW. | title = Reporting guidelines for clinical laboratory reports in surgical pathology. | journal = Arch Pathol Lab Med | volume = 132 | issue = 10 | pages = 1608-16 | month = Oct | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1043/1543-2165(2008)132[1608:RGFCLR]2.0.CO;2 | PMID = 18834219 }}</ref>
Something close to a standard is laid-out in by Goldsmith et al.<ref name=pmid18834219>{{Cite journal  | last1 = Goldsmith | first1 = JD. | last2 = Siegal | first2 = GP. | last3 = Suster | first3 = S. | last4 = Wheeler | first4 = TM. | last5 = Brown | first5 = RW. | title = Reporting guidelines for clinical laboratory reports in surgical pathology. | journal = Arch Pathol Lab Med | volume = 132 | issue = 10 | pages = 1608-16 | month = Oct | year = 2008 | doi = 10.1043/1543-2165(2008)132[1608:RGFCLR]2.0.CO;2 | PMID = 18834219 }}</ref>
Line 18: Line 18:
The College of American Pathologists (CAP) has checklists for cancer - [http://www.cap.org/apps/cap.portal?_nfpb=true&cntvwrPtlt_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2FcontentViewer%2Fshow&_windowLabel=cntvwrPtlt&cntvwrPtlt%7BactionForm.contentReference%7D=committees%2Fcancer%2Fcancer_protocols%2Fprotocols_index.html&_state=maximized&_pageLabel=cntvwr CAP protocols].
The College of American Pathologists (CAP) has checklists for cancer - [http://www.cap.org/apps/cap.portal?_nfpb=true&cntvwrPtlt_actionOverride=%2Fportlets%2FcontentViewer%2Fshow&_windowLabel=cntvwrPtlt&cntvwrPtlt%7BactionForm.contentReference%7D=committees%2Fcancer%2Fcancer_protocols%2Fprotocols_index.html&_state=maximized&_pageLabel=cntvwr CAP protocols].


Pathologists will probably use more checklists in the future... they are deemed effective in a number of places inside and outside of medicine.   
It seems likely that pathologists will use more checklists in the future... they are deemed effective in a number of places inside and outside of medicine.  Good evidence suggests that surgical checklists reduces adverse events.<ref name=pmid19158173>{{cite journal |author=Soar J, Peyton J, Leonard M, Pullyblank AM |title=Surgical safety checklists |journal=BMJ |volume=338 |issue= |pages=b220 |year=2009 |pmid=19158173 |doi= |url=http://bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=19158173}}</ref> Pilots have been using checklists since the 1930s.<ref name=gawande/>Gawande A. The checklist manifesto: How to get things right. Metropolitan Books. 2009. URL: [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805091742 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805091742]. ISBN-13 978-0805091748.</ref>
Surgeons know that checklists work and that they save lives.<ref name=pmid19158173>{{cite journal |author=Soar J, Peyton J, Leonard M, Pullyblank AM |title=Surgical safety checklists |journal=BMJ |volume=338 |issue= |pages=b220 |year=2009 |pmid=19158173 |doi= |url=http://bmj.com/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=19158173}}</ref>
Pilots have been using checklists since the 1930s.
 
An interesting book about checklists in medicine is: ''The checklist manifesto'' by Harvard surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande.<ref>Gawande A. The checklist manifesto: How to get things right. Metropolitan Books. 2009. URL: [http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805091742 http://www.amazon.com/dp/0805091742]. ISBN-13 978-0805091748.</ref>


===Standard diagnostic notation===
===Standard diagnostic notation===
Line 48: Line 44:


====Abbreviations====
====Abbreviations====
*Abbreviations should not be used, e.g. [[LEEP]] should be written-out as ''loop electrosurgical excision procedure''.
*[[Abbreviations]] should not be used, e.g. [[LEEP]] should be written-out as ''loop electrosurgical excision procedure''.
**Patients often read their reports. Abbreviations muddle things.
**Patients often read their reports. Abbreviations muddle things.


48,452

edits

Navigation menu