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"Ask The Pathologist": An Internet Forum Facilitating Communication Between Cancer Registrars and Pathologists
Leah B Strickland-Marmol1, Carlos A Muro-Cacho1, Kay Washington1
1From the Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Service, James A. Haley Veterans' Hospital and the University of South Florida, Tampa (Drs Strickland-Marmol, Muro-Cacho, and Foulis); and the Department of Pathology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee (Dr Washington).
Context.—:
Cancer registrars should work closely with pathologists to ensure compliance with reporting standards. Many registrars, however, have little contact with pathologists, resulting in a lack of "real-time" interaction that is essential for their professional activities and development.
Objective.—:
To facilitate registrars' case management, as cancer biology becomes more complex, we developed the ATP (Ask the Pathologist) forum as a place to ask pathology-related questions about neoplasms, such as terminology, biology, histologic classification, extent of disease, molecular markers, and prognostic factors.
Design.—:
Questions posted are reviewed by the ATP multidisciplinary oversight committee, which consists of 3 pathologists, 4 cancer registrars, 1 internal medicine physician, the pathology resident member of the College of American Pathologists Cancer Committee, and 2 medical technologists. The oversight committee may answer the question. Alternatively, the committee may forward the question to a content expert pathologist, determine that the question is better suited for another reference Web site, or both.
Results.—:
Since September 2013, when the ATP forum became available, users have posted 284 questions, of which 48 (17%) related to gastrointestinal tumors, 43 (15%) to breast tumors, and 37 (13%) to general pathology. The average turnaround time, from question posted to response, is 11.1 days.
Conclusions.—:
The ATP forum has had a positive impact in the daily activities of cancer registrars. Of 440 registrars surveyed, more than 90% considered that questions were answered satisfactorily, and one-third reported that ATP answers affected how they managed a given case.