Increase in information content in histopathology reports: a concealed workload for histopathologists.
BACKGROUND
The workload of histopathologists is traditionally assessed by the total number of specimens handled annually (TSA). Development in medical science has resulted in an increased demand by clinicians for more information in histopathology reports. Inclusion of this information requires more work. Annual information output (AIO) is the total number of specimens handled annually multiplied by the average number of items of information per histopathology report (AIR). An item of information is any pathological feature of prognostic or therapeutic relevance.


OBJECTIVE
This study aims to determine whether there has been an increase in annual information output (AIO) during a 17-year period.


METHODS
This is a retrospective study in a University Department of Pathology. 200 histopathology reports per year at 4 yearly intervals from 1982 to 1998 were examined. TSA, AIR and AIO were calculated.


RESULTS
TSA increased from 2912 in 1982 to 3919 in 1998 (34.6% increase). AIR increased from 1.11 to 3.12 (181.1% increase). AIO increased from 3232.3 to 12227.3 (278.3% increase).


CONCLUSIONS
The increase in AIO was greater than the increase in TSA. Thus the use of TSA alone will not reflect the increase in workload accurately. We recommend the use of AIO rather than TSA to quantify workload and staffing requirements of histopathologists.
Tilakaratna
A
A
Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka.
Prematilleke
I
I
de Silva
M V
MV
D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006751:Hospital Information Systems; D006801:Humans; D019451:Information Management; D007254:Information Science / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D008499:Medical Records; D010337:Pathology Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016526:Workload / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*