An 18-Year Review of Hemoglobinopathy Proficiency Testing: Recommendations From the College of American Pathologists Hematology and Clinical Microscopy Committee.

Context.—: The College of American Pathologists Hematology and Clinical Microscopy Committee implemented a hemoglobinopathy proficiency testing and education program to monitor and assess the performance of participating laboratories.

Objective.

Technical Competency Assessment of Peripheral Blood Smears: Tools and Trends Learned From 2 College of American Pathologists Q-Probes Studies.

Context.—: Morphologic evaluation of peripheral blood smears provides valuable information to diagnose and manage a variety of hematologic disorders.

Objective.

Introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence: Contextualizing the Future.

Context.—: Generative artificial intelligence (GAI) is a promising new technology with the potential to transform communication and workflows in health care and pathology. Although new technologies offer advantages, they also come with risks that users, particularly early adopters, must recognize.

Inpatient Test Utilization and Test Volume Benchmarking: A Q-Probes Study.

Context.—: Test-ordering practices vary widely between and within health care organizations, and methods used to benchmark test utilization data are unstandardized.

Objective.

Red Blood Cell Transfusion Practices.

Context.—: Opportunities to improve transfusion safety occur at lower hemoglobin (Hgb) thresholds and single-unit transfusions. Efforts to improve compliance with transfusion guidelines and single-unit transfusion practices reduce transfusions and lead to improved outcomes.

The Impact of Pathologist Review on Peripheral Blood Smears: A College of American Pathologists Q-Probes Study of 22 Laboratories.

Context.—: The aim of the study was to determine the impact of peripheral blood (PB) smear review by a pathologist when requested by a technologist or provider to measure the rate of pathologist-detected clinically relevant findings.

Objective.

Two Accreditation Options for Biorepositories.

Context.—: Biomedical research relies on available biomaterials and associated data, and the quality of this starting material can have a significant impact on the quality of the experimental results. In the 2000s, best-practice documents and guidelines for biorepositories were published, followed in the 2010s by standards documents used to support accreditation.

Harnessing the Power of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Pathology Education.

Context.—: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are rapidly transforming numerous fields, including pathology, and hold significant potential to revolutionize educational approaches.

Objective.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in the Medical Library Association: a look back at the last twenty-five years.

Over the past twenty-five years, the Medical Library Association (MLA) has pursued a range of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. This article, written by members of the 's Equity Advisory Group (EAG), outlines significant measures taken to raise awareness about specific concepts, opportunities, and challenges related to DEI among MLA members. Topics discussed include the impact of influential Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) leaders, the establishment of DEI and social justice-focused membership communities, and specific initiatives led by various working groups and committees which have served to strengthen MLA's commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion during the last three decades.

High Prevalence of Multistep Algorithms in Diagnostic Clostridioides difficile Laboratory Testing.

Context.—: Laboratory testing practices for diagnosis of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) have evolved in response to published guidelines, availability of highly sensitive nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs), perceived problems with the specificity of NAATs, and CDI reporting requirements.

Objective.

Reported Awareness and Use of Pyridoxal-5'-Phosphate Supplementation in Alanine Aminotransferase and Aspartate Aminotransferase Assay Reagents: A Survey by the College of American Pathologists Clinical Chemistry Committee.

Context.—: Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) assay reagents are available both with and without supplementation with pyridoxal-5'-phosphate (P5P; the active form of vitamin B6), a catalytic cofactor required for their enzymatic reactions. Nonsupplemented assays may miss ALT or AST elevations in patients with vitamin B6 deficiency.

General Applicability of Existing College of American Pathologists Accreditation Requirements to Clinical Implementation of Machine Learning-Based Methods in Molecular Oncology Testing.

Context.—: The College of American Pathologists (CAP) accreditation requirements for clinical laboratory testing help ensure laboratories implement and maintain systems and processes that are associated with quality. Machine learning (ML)-based models share some features of conventional laboratory testing methods.

Re-evaluation of the methodology for estimating the US specialty physician workforce.

Increasing pursuit of subspecialized training has quietly revolutionized physician training, but the potential impact on physician workforce estimates has not previously been recognized. The Physicians Specialty Data Reports of the Association of American Medical Colleges, derived from specialty designations in the American Medical Association (AMA) Physician Professional Data (PPD), are the reference source for US physician workforce estimates; by 2020, the report for pathologists was an undercount of 39% when compared with the PPD. Most of the difference was due to the omission of pathology subspecialty designations.

Laboratory Considerations for Releasing Next-Generation Sequencing Data to Patients.

Context.—: Title 45, section 164.524 of the Code of Federal Regulations states that health care systems must provide patient health records upon that patient's request.

Estrogen Receptor, Progesterone Receptor, and Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 Expression Rates in Invasive Breast Carcinoma: A Study of 21 Institutions.

Context.—: Laboratories performing predictive marker testing for breast carcinoma are encouraged to compare patient results to published benchmarks.

Objective.

Programmed Death Ligand-1 and Tumor Mutation Burden Testing of Patients With Lung Cancer for Selection of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapies: Guideline From the College of American Pathologists, Association for Molecular Pathology, International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, Pulmonary Pathology Society, and LUNGevity Foundation.

Context.—: Rapid advancements in the understanding and manipulation of tumor-immune interactions have led to the approval of immune therapies for patients with non-small cell lung cancer. Certain immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies require the use of companion diagnostics, but methodologic variability has led to uncertainty around test selection and implementation in practice.

Numbers of prenatal cell-free DNA screens performed: Results of a 2022 CAP exercise.

Objective: Determine current analytical methods and number of cell-free (cf) DNA prenatal screening tests performed for common trisomies.

Methods: The College of American Pathologists 2022-B Noninvasive Prenatal Testing exercise was distributed in December 2022 to 93 participants in 22 countries. Supplemental questions included the number of tests performed in a recent month and the proportion of samples originating outside the United States (US).

National pilot of entrustable professional activities in pathology residency training.

Entrustable professional activities (EPAs) are observable clinical skills and/or procedures that have been introduced into medical education at the student and resident levels in most specialties to determine readiness to advance into residency or independent practice, respectively. This publication describes the process and outcomes of a pilot study looking at the feasibility of using two anatomic pathology and two clinical pathology EPAs in pathology residency in 6 pathology residency programs that volunteered for the study. Faculty development on EPAs and their assessment was provided to pilot program faculty, and EPA assessment tools were developed and used by the pilot programs.