title: Improving the quality of surgical pathology reports for breast cancer: a centralized audit with feedback.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Good communication of pathologic characteristics of a malignancy is crucial to therapy choices and accurate prognostication. The information must be easily retrieved from a surgical pathology report.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate, first in 1999, the quality of surgical pathology reports for segmental breast resections for cancer in Quebec hospitals. Subsequently, to reevaluate, in 2003, the same indicators to determine if the first surveillance, with feedback, was associated with an improvement in the quality of the reports.
  
  
  METHODS
  All Quebec hospitals performing the preset number of 20 or more segmental breast resections for cancer in 1999 and 2003 participated. A committee of pathologists, after review of the literature, chose 7 diagnostic elements deemed vital to a surgical pathology report for conservative breast cancer surgery. Medical archivists in each institution were instructed on how to retrieve the data. The main outcome measure was the presence or absence of the diagnostic information clearly presented on the surgical pathology report.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Fifty-one hospitals participated in 1999 and 50 in 2003. Overall, conformity improved from 85.0% in 1999 for the first evaluation to 92.5% in 2003 for the second evaluation (P < .001). Six of the 7 indicators showed an improvement in the level of conformity between the first and second evaluations. Conformity was weakest for recording the distance between the tumor and the resection margin (68.2%) and vascular/lymphatic invasion (61.4%) in 1999.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surveillance of quality of surgical pathology reports, with feedback, is significantly associated with an improvement in the quality of reports.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pathology, St Mary's Hospital Center, Montréal, Québec, Canada. Ronald.onerheim@mcgill.ca
authors.forename: Ronald
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Onerheim
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Racette
authors.forename: André
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jacques
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gagnon
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery*; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008485:Medical Audit; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000592:standards*; D011792:Quebec