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Clinical pathology
Clinical pathology is a medical specialty that is concerned with the diagnosis of disease based on the laboratory analysis of bodily fluids, such as blood, urine, and tissue homogenates or extracts using the tools of chemistry, microbiology, hematology and molecular pathology. This specialty requires a medical residency.
Clinical pathologists often direct all of the special divisions of the laboratory, which may include the blood bank, clinical chemistry and biology, toxicology, hematology, immunology and serology, and microbiology. Clinical pathology also involves maintenance of laboratory information systems, research, and quality control.
According to the American Association of Medical Colleges, “The practice of pathology is most often conducted in community hospitals or in academic medical centers, where patient care, diagnostic services, and research go hand in hand. Creation of new knowledge is the lifeblood of pathology and many academic pathologists devote significant time in their career to research.”
The world’s largest professional membership organization for clinical pathologists and laboratory professionals, the American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP), says, “Pathologists are problem-solvers, fascinated by the process of disease and eager to unlock medical mysteries, like AIDS and diabetes, using the tools of laboratory medicine and its sophisticated instruments and methods. Pathologists make it possible to apply scientific advances to improve the accuracy and efficiency of medical diagnosis and treatment.”
Becoming a pathologist entails one of the lengthiest education and training tracks of all physicians. Requirements include four years of undergraduate study, plus four years of medical school, plus a minimum of four to five years of post-graduate training in pathology residency. The annual salary for clinical pathologists ranges from $183,000 to $360,000.
The American Board of Pathology certifies clinical pathologists, and recognizes the following secondary specialties of clinical pathology:
- Chemical pathology, also called clinical chemistry
- Hematopathology
- Blood banking / transfusion medicine
- Clinical microbiology
- Cytogenetics
- Molecular genetics pathology
Tools of clinical pathology include macroscopic examination, microscopes, microscopical examination, analyzers, centrifuges and cultures.
The ASCP has more than 100,000 members worldwide, and “provides excellence in education, certification and advocacy on behalf of patients, pathologists and laboratory professionals across the globe.”
First CAP 15189 Accreditation for a Children’s Hospital Lab
CEO SUMMARY: It’s now official. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the first children’s hospital to earn accreditation to ISO 15189 under the College of American Pathologists. What is more interesting, however, is how lab leadership used the quality management system of ISO 15…
Lab, Emergency Department at Cleveland Clinic Collaborate to Reduce Hemolysis Rates
CEO SUMMARY: Two years ago, the rate of hemolysis in blood drawn in the Cleveland Clinic’s Emergency Department was about nine times higher than the ASCP recommended rate of 2%. With a two-year cooperative agreement and funding from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…
December 7, 2015 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
Last week, a joint laboratory accreditation agreement was announced by AABB and the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA). The two associations will now collaborate to allow labs to obtain three assessments under one effort, including AABB accredit…
November 16, 2015 Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News
Roper Industries, the owner of Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., acquired two more lab informatics companies. On October 26, it announced a definitive agreement to purchase A…
Hospital Lab Shares Ten Ways to Create Value with Lab Tests
CEO SUMMARY: Across the nation, labs in hospitals and health systems are feeling pressure from shrinking lab budgets and the need to be a contributor to the integration of clinical care. At Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, the clinical laboratory and department of pathology have respo…
Pathologists Exploring Use of Diagnostic Teams
CEO SUMMARY: In the search for ways to add more value to lab testing services, pathologists and lab administrators are considering organizing diagnostic management teams within their hospitals. Such teams focus on complex cases and include…
September 22, 2014 “Intelligence: Late Breaking Lab News”
Did you know that the world’s longest automation track in a clinical laboratory has just become operational in India? At 93.5 meters (307 feet), it is longer than a football field, according to a press release issued by Siemens Diagnostics. The automation was installed at the centr…
Partners Consolidates AP Using Common IT System
CEO SUMMARY: Partners HealthCare of Boston, Massachusetts, is creating a single informatics platform for CP and AP across all six of the hospitals that it operates. It will replace 19 different pathology systems currently used at six sites with just seven integrated pathology systems. As …
Maine’s Spectrum Medical Group Offers Multiple Specialties
CEO SUMMARY: Pathologists looking for a viable future in a healthcare system marked by integration of clinical care and value-based reimbursement will be interested to learn about Spectrum Medical Group based in Portland, Maine. This 180-member multispecialist group includes 22 pathologis…
Genesis Outreach Lab Acquired by LabCorp
CEO SUMMARY: Sources say that Genesis Clinical Laboratory of Berwyn, Illinois, owned by McNeal Hospital, is being sold to Laboratory Corporation of America. Neither party has publicly acknowledged completion of the sale. It is the latest example of consolidation within the clinical lab in…
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Volume XXXI, No. 6 – April 29, 2024
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