Abstract
Background: In this article we share our experience of creating a digital pathology (DP) supraregional germ cell tumour service, including full digitisation of the central laboratory. Methods: DP infrastructure (Philips) was deployed across our hospital network to allow full central digitisation with partial digitisation of two peripheral sites in the supraregional testis germ cell tumour network. We used a survey-based approach to capture the quantitative and qualitative experiences of the multidisciplinary teams involved. Results: The deployment enabled case sharing for the purposes of diagnostic reporting, second opinion, and supraregional review. DP was seen as a positive step forward for the departments involved, and for the wider germ cell tumour network, and was completed without significant issues. Whilst there were challenges, the transition to DP was regarded as worthwhile, and examples of benefits to patients are already recognised. Conclusion: Pathology networks, including highly specialised services, such as in this study, are ideally suited to be digitised. We highlight many of the benefits but also the challenges that must be overcome for such clinical transformation. Overall, from the survey, the change was seen as universally positive for our service and highlights the importance of engagement of the whole team to achieve success.
Highlights
Engagement of the pathologists and the wider team within the department at OUHFT was an important aspect of the journey to digital pathology (DP)
There were nine respondents to the subsequent online survey of the pilot group, which revealed the aspirations of the group in respect to the promise of DP to improve aspects of patient safety, diagnostic workflow, workforce planning, and service quality, very much in line with those reported by others [11]
The survey highlighted concerns around ease of request for a second opinion for cases and the potential impact of this on workload, and raised concerns over the clarification of governance around patient data, and issues related to data storage capacity
Summary
Testicular germ cell tumour clinical services, including pathological diagnosis, are highly specialized and as such would seem to be an obvious specialty to benefit from DP and the subsequent ease of access to specialist review in-house and across a network. Glass slides have been sent from the local site to the central site via postal systems or hospital transportation systems This manual process entails administrative time and effort to pack/unpack, book in and out of laboratories, and comes with an inherent risk of damage or loss of the slides. As part of our transformation to a DP service in Oxford, we moved to a virtual or digital network for managing patients with testicular germ cell tumours in our region. Supraregional germ cell tumour service, including full digitisation of the central laboratory. Conclusion: Pathology networks, including highly specialised services, such as in this study, are ideally suited to be digitised
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