The Digital Pathology blog recently published Amanda Lowe's post, "Digital Pathology Misconceptions Debunked by Digital Pathology Consultant." In it, Ms. Lowe examines the various fears and concerns that have held people back from adopting digital pathology solutions in their own laboratories. Most of these misconceptions are centered around the costs of digital pathology and the impact it will or won't have on workflow and a laboratory's infrastructure. Ms. Lowe sums it up best in her own subhead - "Yes, you can be reimbursed, and no, it won't slow you down."
Many of the points Ms. Lowe makes are about the unfounded fears that users will not receive the same reimbursement and certification for adopting digital pathology solutions. Or, worse yet, will somehow be penalized for using digital pathology instead of current or even obsolete methods. Ms. Lowe is quick to point out that these worries are not based in fact - just rumors that are born of anxieties whenever any innovation arrives. She is quick to debase and debunk each of these objections and there is one particular point that she makes that really resonated due to my similar experiences encouraging synoptic reporting adoption in pathology. Ms. Lowe writes
Digital pathology disrupts my laboratory workflow. How do you break something that is already broken? Many laboratories have a workflow that is manual, fragmented and extremely inefficient. Digital pathology will not be disruptive, instead digital pathology will make these workflow inefficiencies more apparent. These inefficiencies will need to be addressed to be a more productive and progressive laboratory.There is always room for improvement and there are ways of increasing your lab's efficiencies. Neither digital pathology nor synoptic reporting are the silver bullet that will instantly make your lab run correctly. But they are powerful tools that can streamline processes, ensure consistency of results and output and assist physicians in making important decisions about administering care. Digital pathology and synoptic reporting are means to organize your lab's activities and promote best practices. Of course there exists a possibility of people doing it incorrectly or there might even be a slight learning curve with new technology. But if you use them correctly, they can be powerful aides to help curb inefficiencies, adhere to industry standards like the CAP Cancer Checklists and meet the increasing demand for results that pathology labs are facing.
Again, here is the link to Ms. Lowe's post, "Digital Pathology Misconceptions Debunked by Digital Pathology Consultant." For more information on mTuitive's pathology solutions, visit our Pathology page.