Are We Providing Enough Information to the Pathologists? An Audit of Filling of Histopathology Request Forms for Surgically Resected Tumours.

Abstract

To analyse quantitatively the adequacy of demographics of clinical information and highlight specific areas of neglect, by assessing the adequacy of filling out histopathology request forms. Clinical Audit. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Pathology, Dow University of Health Sciences (DUHS), Karachi, Pakistan, from January to September 2021. A retrospective audit was carried out on the request forms of surgically resected tumours and biopsies. The recorded details of the patients' demographics and biopsy, clinical history and examination, and intraoperative findings were analysed. Out of 175 forms, patients' names were written in 174 (99.4%) while medical record numbers were written in 113 (64.6%). The doctors' names were given in 172 (98.3%) forms and phone numbers in 34 (19.4%). A clinical diagnosis was provided in 164 (93.7%) forms, while 152 (86.9%) forms correctly entered the biopsy site. Sixty-seven (38.3%) forms included the correct nature of the biopsy. Relevant operative details were provided in half of the forms. Symptoms and their duration were mentioned in 144 (82.3%) and 100 (57.1%), respectively. The form-filling rate was the same for both benign and malignant tumours. This study shows that in a significant proportion of cases, complete relevant information is not provided to the histopathologists on request forms for logistics. Histopathology, Request forms, Tumours, Audit.