Standardizing visual display of gastrointestinal pathology results for improved clinical interpretation

Pathology is an essential component of disease diagnosis and management in pediatric gastroenterology. Pathology reports have not been standardized in some areas of pediatric gastrointestinal pathology and pathology reporting varies. Development of electronic medical record (EMR) pathology synoptic report templates (PSRT) enables pathology data collection in a specific format and can help standardize pathology reporting. We developed, implemented, and evaluated EMR PSRTs for eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

PSRTs were developed by a multidisciplinary team of pediatric experts of allergy, gastroenterology, and pathology for both EoE and IBD based on available literature and validated scales. Likert surveys (range 1 low acceptance to 5 high acceptance) based on the Technology Acceptance Model assessed user acceptance of the developed PSRTs. The use of PSRTs was monitored via control charts.

Overall, evaluation questionnaires achieved >80% response rates. Clinicians and pathologists reported moderate-to-high levels of Perceived Usefulness (median (interquartile range) for EoE PSRT: clinicians 4.0 (4.0, 5.0) and pathologists 3.5 (3.5, 4.0); and IBD PSRT: clinicians 4.0 (3.0, 4.0) and pathologists 4.0 (4.0, 5.0)) and Perceived Ease of Use (EoE PSRT: clinicians 4.5 (4.0, 5.0) and pathologists 4.0 (4.0, 4.0); and IBD PSRT: clinicians 4.0 (4.0, 5.0) and pathologists 4.0 (4.0, 5.0)) of the developed PSRTs. Control charts demonstrated 100% utilization by 2-5 months from launch.

We demonstrate successful implementation of synoptic reporting for both pediatric EoE and IBD pathology. EMR synoptic reporting provides standardization of pathology reporting and improved methods of pathology data presentation, which could potentially optimize provider efficiency, clinician interpretation of pathology results and disease trajectory, patient care, and clinician satisfaction.