Histology Errors

Anatomic pathology errors can occur at any of the stages through which a specimen passes, from transport, through the gross room and histology, and finally through examination, sign-out, and report transmission. Most errors are detected by redundant methods of slide review, which often detects interpretive or clinical sampling errors. However, other methods, such as the Toyota Production System (TPS) process, may be used to detect and correct errors that are noninterpretive in nature. We illustrate how the TPS process may be used to detect and correct errors occurring in histology.