Interinstitutional assessment of colorectal carcinoma surgical pathology report adequacy. A College of American Pathologists Q-Probes study of practice patterns from 532 laboratories and 15,940 reports.

In 1991, the College of American Pathologist's Q-Probes Quality Improvement Program evaluated practices in 532 institutions for pathologic information provided in surgical pathology reports of 15,940 resected primary colorectal carcinomas. Participating institutions studied their last 30 completed cases and were from the United States (98%), Canada (1.5%), and Australia (0.4%). The influence of various institutional differences and other practice patterns were analyzed to determine factors associated with an increased institutional likelihood of providing information on pathology reports. The one practice significantly associated with increased likelihood of providing complete oncologic pathology information on eight of 11 gross and microscopic information items surveyed was the use of a standard report form or checklist. Other institutional differences bearing inconsistent associations included teaching institution status, presence of pathology residency, use of microscopic descriptions, institution bedsize category, and performance of DNA ploidy analysis. The development and adoption of a standardized report form or checklist for each case is a simple but effective means to assure report adequacy and consistent communication of oncologic pathology information. In conjunction with accompanying criteria for its accurate use, this process can be considered a practice guideline or practice parameter that can be extended to the surgical pathology examination of all resected malignant neoplasms.