Redefining and capturing pre-analytic deficiencies in an anatomical pathology laboratory: a quality improvement initiative.

Pre-analytical deficiencies (PADs) are a major source of errors in anatomical pathology, accounting for about 70% of laboratory deficiencies. These can lead to incorrect diagnoses, delayed treatments, and increased healthcare costs. As part of a quality improvement initiative, we retrospectively identified and characterized 237 PADs documented over a 1-year period in a tertiary care academic center.