Frozen-Section Checklist Implementation Improves Quality and Patient Safety

Area of Science:

• Surgical Pathology
• Quality Improvement in Healthcare
• Diagnostic Accuracy

Background:

• Intraoperative consultations (IOC) are critical for timely surgical decisions.
• Standardization of processes in surgical pathology is essential for patient safety.
• Slide labeling errors can lead to diagnostic inaccuracies and patient harm.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and implement an IOC checklist to standardize slide labeling.
• To monitor key quality and safety metrics in surgical pathology.
• To assess the impact of the checklist on slide labeling defect rates and turnaround time (TAT).

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement project involving the development and implementation of an IOC checklist.
• Collection of data for 839 IOC cases over a 9-month period.
• Comparison of slide labeling defect rates and IOC TAT before and after checklist implementation.

Main Results:

• A statistically significant reduction in slide labeling defects from 85% preintervention to 27% postintervention (P < .001).
• No significant change in mean IOC TAT (21.6 minutes preintervention vs 23.2 minutes postintervention; P = .071).
• Demonstrated improvement in the quality of IOC TAT data reporting.

Conclusions:

• Implementation of a standardized IOC checklist effectively reduced slide labeling errors.
• The standardized checklist did not adversely affect IOC TAT.
• The initiative enhanced overall quality and safety monitoring in surgical pathology.