title: Role of Informatics in Patient Safety and Quality Assurance.
abstract: Quality assurance encompasses monitoring daily processes for accurate, timely, and complete reports in surgical pathology. Quality assurance also includes implementation of policies and procedures that prevent or detect errors in a timely manner. This article presents uses of informatics in quality assurance. Three main foci are critical to the general improvement of diagnostic surgical pathology. First is the application of informatics to specimen identification with lean methods for real-time statistical control of specimen receipt and processing. Second is the development of case reviews before sign-out. Third is the development of information technology in communication of results to assure treatment in a timely manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic Florida, 4500 San Pablo Road, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. Electronic address: Nakhleh.Raouf@mayo.edu.
authors.forename: Raouf E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Nakhleh
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008490:Medical Informatics; D010340:Pathology, Surgical / Q000379:methods / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D061214:Patient Safety; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards
keywords: Informatics; Patient safety; Quality assurance; Quality improvement; Surgical pathology