Diagnostic digital pathology implementation: Learning from the digital health experience.

Area of Science:

• Digital Pathology
• Telepathology
• Whole Slide Imaging

Background:

• Digital Pathology (DP) involves creating high-resolution digital images from glass slides for remote pathologist review and collaboration.
• Despite recognized benefits, DP adoption as a diagnostic tool remains low, with cautious future projections from pathologists.
• Scaling DP beyond major centers is a key challenge, necessitating strategic implementation approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore various digital pathology implementation strategies used in clinical practice.
• To examine lessons learned from broader healthcare experiences in adopting and sustaining digital health innovations.
• To inform future planning for effective digital pathology deployment.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing digital pathology implementation approaches.
• Analysis of case studies and experiences from digital health technology adoption in healthcare.
• Exploration of theoretical and conceptual frameworks used in multi-disciplinary healthcare contexts.

Main Results:

• Early adopters have pioneered digital pathology, but widespread clinical integration is limited.
• Broader healthcare sectors offer valuable insights into optimizing digital health deployment and sustainability.
• A gap exists in applying established digital health frameworks to digital pathology planning.

Conclusions:

• Successful scaling of digital pathology requires strategic planning informed by wider digital health implementation successes.
• Learning from multi-disciplinary approaches to digital health adoption can accelerate DP integration.
• Future efforts should focus on leveraging existing healthcare innovation frameworks for sustainable digital pathology deployment.