[Certification of pathology institutions--a new direction? The view of a University Pathology Institute]

Pathology institutes in the German university setting have thus far refrained from certification according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000, due to the complexity and multiplicity of the requirements in diagnostics, research, and teaching. In parallel to the introduction of a quality-management system, the Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Dresden, has been the first academic pathology institution to undertake the challenge of the highly demanding procedures of a certification and to bring it to a successful end. The present article describes the motivation, experience, and efforts of the process of certification, and presents examples from the resulting management manual.