The College of American Pathologists (CAP) and the National Society for Histotechnology (NSH) have partnered to produce guidelines for
Uniform Labeling of Slides and Blocks in Surgical Pathology. We invite CAP and NSH members to participate in the open comment period beginning today through December 6, 2013 to provide feedback about the draft recommendations.
Accurate and precise labeling of paraffin blocks and glass slides is an essential element of
quality assurance and patient safety in surgical pathology. The block and slide labels must unambiguously link a patient specimen to a corresponding diagnosis in the patient’s pathology report. The use of two unique patient identifiers on all patient samples has become routine laboratory practice; however, there are no guidelines regarding the application of this standard to anatomic pathology specimens. Further, there appears to be significant interlaboratory variation in the content of slide and block identifiers and the manner in which these are applied.
NSH & CAP convened an expert panel to address these reasons exploring the scope of various questions.
The expert panel drafted recommendations following a systematic review of peer-reviewed literature and taking into account their expert opinion. View complete questions and descriptions here.
After consideration of the public comments, further discussion and analysis, the final recommendations will be published in Archives of Pathology &Laboratory Medicine and the Journal of Histotechnology.
Click here to take the survey to share your voice during the open comment period, assuring our recommendations are clinically sound, practical and implementable, thereby reducing risk to our patients and specialty.
Disclaimer:
The information, data, and draft recommendations provided by the College of American Pathologists and the National Society for Histotechnology are presented for informational and public feedback purposes only.
The draft recommendations and supporting documents will be removed on December 20, 2013.
The draft recommendations along with the public comments received and completed evidence review will be reassessed by the expert panel in order to formulate the final recommendations. These draft materials should not be stored, adapted, or redistributed in any manner.
© 2013 College of American Pathologists. All rights reserved.
© 2013 National Society for Histotechnology. All rights reserved.
