Quality assurance in surgical pathology--personal and peer assessment.

A mechanism for quality assurance in surgical pathology based on a review of the surgical pathology reports is described. The setting up of performance standards by the participating pathologists before the institution in quality assurance helped in acceptance of the critique of the reviewer. Suggestions are made to improve the quality of the surgical pathology report by incorporating the needs of th surgeons and oncologists, in the hope that the quality assurance process becomes oriented to patients care.