Implementation and assessment of a telecytology quality assurance program.
J Am Soc Cytopathol
; 10(2): 239-245, 2021.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33189637
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The College of American Pathologists mandates that telepathology services are included in laboratory quality management programs. The aim of this study was to assess a telecytology quality assurance (QA) process that we implemented in 2015. MATERIALS ANDMETHODS:
Each month, a cytotechnologist randomly selected 3 telecytology fine-needle aspiration (FNA) cases from each cytopathologist on the FNA service that month. Data were recorded in a monthly worksheet and included onsite telecytology adequacy, final adequacy, concordance, onsite operator, cytopathologist, and reason for discrepancy, if present. The worksheet was reviewed monthly, discordant cases were re-examined, and feedback to cytologists was provided. For this study, worksheets from October 2015 to December 2019 were retrospectively reviewed.RESULTS:
The QA program captured 488 cases, representing 25% of total cases that utilized telecytology during the evaluation period (n = 1983). The telecytology onsite assessment was concordant with the final cytologic assessment in 84% (410 of 488) of cases. The majority of discordant cases (72 of 78, 92%) were the result of an "Inadequate" onsite telecytology assessment, but a final diagnosis was able to be rendered; 92% of these cases were attributed to diagnostic material being present in cytologic preparations not available during the onsite assessment. Nine telecytology onsite interpretation errors were identified, of which 7 were provided by cytopathologists with less than 2 years of experience.CONCLUSIONS:
Most telecytology cases with onsite assessment errors were evaluated by cytopathologists with less than 2 years of practice experience; therefore, careful monitoring of new staff should be considered when developing a telecytology QA program.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Bases de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Garantia da Qualidade dos Cuidados de Saúde
/
Técnicas Citológicas
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Telepatologia
Tipo de estudo:
Evaluation_studies
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Observational_studies
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Sysrev_observational_studies
Limite:
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Am Soc Cytopathol
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article