Quality improvement practices in clinical and anatomic pathology services. A College of American Pathologists Q-probes study of the program characteristics and performance in 580 institutions.

Participants of the College of American Pathologists Q-Probes program described their quality improvement practices for clinical and anatomic pathology. In 580 institutions, the median time required for a median of 12 indicators of quality was 40 hours/month, with the number of indicators and the time spent directly dependent on bed size (P = .0001). The overwhelming majority of participants reported benefit from their quality improvement programs in terms of patient outcomes, as a management tool, and for risk management. Six indicators in clinical pathology and four indicators in anatomic pathology were used in more than 75% of laboratories, whereas an additional seven indicators in clinical pathology and five in anatomic pathology were used in more than 50% of laboratories. The authors conclude that quality improvement practices are similar among laboratories, and irrespective of increasing regulatory requirements, pathologists and senior laboratory personnel spend large amounts of time for activities that they believe improve the quality of services rendered.