Walsh Elizabeth, Orsi Nicolas M
Women's Health Research Group, Leeds Institute of Medical Research, St James's University Hospital, University of Leeds, Wellcome Trust Brenner Building, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF, UK.
Department of Histopathology, St James's University Hospital, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF, UK.
Diagn Pathol. 2024 Dec 21;19(1):163. doi: 10.1186/s13000-024-01590-2.
The histopathology workforce is a cornerstone of cancer diagnostics and is essential to the delivery of cancer services and patient care. The workforce has been subject to significant pressures over recent years, and this review considers them in the UK and internationally. These pressures include declining pathologist numbers, the increasing age of the workforce, and greater workload volume and complexity. Forecasts of the workforce's future in numerous countries are also not favourable - although this is not universal. Some in the field suggest that the effects of these pressures are already coming to bear, such as the financial costs of the additional measures needed to maintain clinical services. There is also some evidence of a detrimental impact on service delivery, patient care and pathologists themselves. Various solutions have been considered, including increasing the number of training places, enhancing recruitment, shortening pathology training and establishing additional support roles within pathology departments. A few studies have examined the effect of some of these solutions. However, the broader extent of their implementation and impact, if any, remains to be determined. In this regard, it is critical that future endeavours should focus on gaining a better understanding of the benefits of implemented workforce solutions, as well as obtaining more detailed and updated pathology workforce numbers. With a concentrated effort in these areas, the future of the pathology workforce could become brighter in the face of the increased demands on its services.
组织病理学专业人员队伍是癌症诊断的基石，对于提供癌症服务和患者护理至关重要。近年来，这一专业人员队伍面临着巨大压力，本综述将对英国和国际上的这些压力进行探讨。这些压力包括病理学家数量的减少、专业人员队伍年龄的增长，以及工作量的增加和复杂性的提高。许多国家对该专业人员队伍未来的预测也不容乐观——尽管并非普遍如此。该领域的一些人认为，这些压力的影响已经显现，比如维持临床服务所需额外措施的财务成本。也有一些证据表明，这对服务提供、患者护理以及病理学家自身都产生了不利影响。人们已经考虑了各种解决方案，包括增加培训名额、加强招聘、缩短病理学培训时间以及在病理科设立额外的辅助岗位。一些研究已经考察了其中一些解决方案的效果。然而，这些解决方案的更广泛实施范围及其影响（如果有的话）仍有待确定。在这方面，至关重要的是，未来的努力应集中在更好地理解已实施的专业人员队伍解决方案的益处，以及获取更详细和最新的病理学专业人员数量信息上。通过在这些领域集中努力，面对对其服务不断增加的需求，病理学专业人员队伍的未来可能会更加光明。
