Formatting pathology reports: applying four design principles to improve communication and patient safety.

Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Paul N Valenstein

Abstract

Eighty-two million surgical pathology and cytology reports were issued in the United States during 2007; a subset of these reports will be misunderstood by readers. Recent attention has focused on standardizing the content of pathology reports, particularly for common malignancies, to facilitate transmission of required information. Comparatively little attention has been focused on the format of reports--the arrangement of headlines, text blocks, and other report elements to optimize communication. To provide guidance to report designers and authors about how to format reports to maximize the speed, fidelity, and ease of information transfer. Review of relevant literature from commercial publishing and aviation and the fields of cognitive psychology and pathology, supplemented with an analysis of 10,000 pathology reports and the author's personal experience as a practicing pathologist. Four evidence-based and time-tested principles can help pathologists format information to communicate more effectively: (1) use of diagnostic headlines to emphasize key points, (2) maintenance of layout continuity with other reports and over time, (3) optimization of information density for readers, and (4) reduction of extraneous information o...Continue Reading

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Citations

Oct 2, 2012·Journal of Pathology Informatics·Brian H ShirtsBrian R Jackson
Nov 6, 2009·Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine·Barbara A CrothersDavid C Wilbur
Nov 6, 2009·Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine·Christel DanielBruce A Beckwith
Mar 4, 2010·Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine·Mahul B Amin
Jul 1, 2010·Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine·Michael O IdowuRaouf E Nakhleh
Sep 3, 2010·Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine·Megan A RenshawAndrew Renshaw
Mar 19, 2020·Health Informatics Journal·Scott McLachlanNorman Fenton
Oct 7, 2008·Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine·Jeffrey D GoldsmithRichard W Brown
Dec 18, 2013·Clinica Chimica Acta; International Journal of Clinical Chemistry·Michael Legg
Jul 30, 2021·Genome Medicine·Angeline S FerdinandDeborah A Williamson
Nov 21, 2009·American Journal of Clinical Pathology·Brian H ShirtsBrian Jackson

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