Physician satisfaction with surgical pathology reports: a 2-year College of American Pathologists Q-Tracks Study

There are multiple elements that can be measured to assess the quality of a surgical pathology laboratory. Overall customer satisfaction is an excellent "global" measure, because it highlights the unique insight of laboratory performance from the users' perspective.

To measure customer satisfaction with surgical pathology reports.

This study was based on a subscription Q-Tracks study. Voluntary participants were asked to distribute and collect a minimum of 25 surveys per quarter from their clients. Four parameters were graded, which included overall satisfaction, report turnaround time (TAT), completeness, and style on a scale of 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent). Each laboratory submitted quarterly data to the College of American Pathologists, where the data were tabulated and analyzed. Each laboratory could compare their performance in all 4 measures against the entire cohort or a selected subgroup of laboratories. Overall customer satisfaction with surgical pathology reports and 3 subcategories of report TAT, completeness, and style were the main outcome measures.

This study ran during 2004 and 2005, with 41 and 33 participant laboratories, respectively. The median score for overall satisfaction, TAT, completeness, and style were 4.57, 4.31, 4.62, and 4.64 in 2004, and 4.64, 4.56, 4.65, and 4.68 in 2005, respectively. Most laboratories reported results for 4 quarters or fewer. There was no statistically significant change in overall satisfaction over time.

Overall satisfaction scores for surgical pathology reports as well as satisfaction with report TAT, completeness, and style were high. Report TAT received the lowest scores of all parameters.