Report and Recommendations of the Association of Pathology Chairs' Autopsy Working Group

Gregory G Davis; Gayle L Winters; Billie S Fyfe; Jody E Hooper; Julia C Iezzoni; Rebecca L Johnson; Priscilla S Markwood; Wesley Y Naritoku; Marcus Nashelsky; Barbara A Sampson; Jacob J Steinberg; James R Stubbs; Charles Timmons; Robert D Hoffman

doi:10.1177/2374289518793988

Back

Report and Recommendations of the Association of Pathology Chairs' Autopsy Working Group

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Report and Recommendations of the Association of Pathology Chairs' Autopsy Working Group

Gregory G Davis, Gayle L Winters, Billie S Fyfe, Jody E Hooper, Julia C Iezzoni, Rebecca L Johnson, Priscilla S Markwood, Wesley Y Naritoku, Marcus Nashelsky, Barbara A Sampson, …

Academic pathology, Vol.5, pp.2374289518793988-2374289518793988

01/2018

DOI: 10.1177/2374289518793988

PMCID: PMC6117865

PMID: 30186954

Files and links (1)

url

https://doi.org/10.1177/2374289518793988View

Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Autopsy has been a foundation of pathology training for many years, but hospital autopsy rates are notoriously low. At the 2014 meeting of the Association of Pathology Chairs, some pathologists suggested removing autopsy from the training curriculum of pathology residents to provide additional months for training in newer disciplines, such as molecular genetics and informatics. At the same time, the American Board of Pathology received complaints that newly hired pathologists recently certified in anatomic pathology are unable to perform an autopsy when called upon to do so. In response to a call to abolish autopsy from pathology training on the one hand and for more rigorous autopsy training on the other, the Association of Pathology Chairs formed the Autopsy Working Group to examine the role of autopsy in pathology residency training. After 2 years of research and deliberation, the Autopsy Working Group recommends the following:Autopsy should remain a component of anatomic pathology training.A training program must have an autopsy service director with defined responsibilities, including accountability to the program director to record every autopsy performed by every resident.Specific entrustable activities should be defined that a resident must master in order to be deemed competent in autopsy practice, as well as criteria for gaining the trust to perform the tasks without direct supervision.Technical standardization of autopsy performance and reporting must be improved.The current minimum number of 50 autopsies should not be reduced until the changes recommended above have been implemented.

pathology training

residency

rapid autopsy

autopsy service director

anatomic pathology

entrustable activities

autopsy

Details

Title: Subtitle: Report and Recommendations of the Association of Pathology Chairs' Autopsy Working Group
Creators: Gregory G Davis - University of Alabama at Birmingham
Gayle L Winters - Brigham and Women's Hospital
Billie S Fyfe - Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Jody E Hooper - Johns Hopkins University
Julia C Iezzoni - University of Virginia
Rebecca L Johnson - American Board of Pathology, Tampa, FL, USA.
Priscilla S Markwood - Wilmington University
Wesley Y Naritoku - LAC+USC Medical Center
Marcus Nashelsky - University of Iowa
Barbara A Sampson - Office of Chief Medical Examiner
Jacob J Steinberg - Albert Einstein College of Medicine
James R Stubbs - Mayo Clinic
Charles Timmons - Southwestern Medical Center
Robert D Hoffman - Vanderbilt University
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Academic pathology, Vol.5, pp.2374289518793988-2374289518793988
DOI: 10.1177/2374289518793988
PMID: 30186954
PMCID: PMC6117865
NLM abbreviation: Acad Pathol
ISSN: 2374-2895
eISSN: 2374-2895
Language: English
Date published: 01/2018
Academic Unit: Epidemiology; Pathology
Record Identifier: 9984201428202771

Metrics

23 Record Views

16 Times Cited - Web of Science