Structured electronic template for histopathology reporting on colorectal carcinoma resections: five-year follow-up shows sustainable long-term quality improvement.

CONTEXT: To improve quality, pathology organizations have published guidelines with key parameters for histopathology reporting on cancer resections. Checklists or structured templates improve upon the presence of key parameters in histopathology reports, but data are lacking on long-term sustainability of such reporting. From 2003 to 2006, the Cancer Registry of Norway and the Norwegian Society of Pathology collaborated on the development of a structured electronic template for histopathology reporting on colorectal carcinoma resections.
OBJECTIVE: To investigate use and long-term effect of this structured template in one of the first laboratories implementing the template for routine diagnostic work.
DESIGN: All histopathology reports (n =123) in the 1-year period prior to implementation were evaluated with respect to presence of key parameters. Likewise, all histopathology reports (n =1186) in the 5-year period after implementation were evaluated with respect to template use and presence of key parameters.
RESULTS: The electronic template had been used in 1089 (91.8%) of the 1186 cases. Template use was stable in the entire 5-year period, and had significantly improved upon the presence of data on 7 of 11 key parameters valid for both the pre-implementation and the post-implementation period. Eight hundred and twenty-two (75.5%) of the 1089 template reports contained information on all key parameters, compared to just 20 (16.3%) of the 123 free text reports in the 1-year pre-implementation period.
CONCLUSION: Electronic template reporting has a significant and sustainable long-term, positive effect upon the quality of histopathology reports.