Lost, mislabeled, and mishandled surgical and clinical pathology specimens: A systematic review of published literature.

OBJECTIVES: To perform a systematic review of published academic literature related to lost, mislabeled, and mishandled surgical and clinical pathology specimens during the preanalytical stage. METHODS: The authors used Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines to search PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus for relevant articles published from January 1, 1990, to May 1, 2023. RESULTS: The authors screened 1313 articles and identified 44 peer-reviewed, English-language articles published between 1990 and 2021 for inclusion in the final systematic review. Most articles (n = 36) reported results from US-based facilities. Articles primarily focused on general clinical and general surgical pathology. Analysis of the articles revealed that articles reported a range of methodological approaches, including incident reports, implementation analyses, case studies, and commentary recommendations. Most articles focused on mislabeling errors (61.3%) and missing or lost specimens (18.2%), while several articles combined specimen errors (20.5%). Several implementation studies (22.7%) reported using multiple interventions to mitigate errors. Implementation efforts reported between 70% and 100% reduction in pathology errors. CONCLUSIONS: The review highlights the limited research on the topic, with an average of 2 articles per year discussing lost, mislabeled, or mishandled specimens. Intervention studies addressed The Joint Commission's patient safety goals for laboratory practice. More research is needed about error incidents and reporting in non-Western countries to gain a more global perspective on the topic.

'That gave me a lot of comfort, that he would ask my opinion about how we wanted to talk about this': A qualitative analysis of clinical communication experiences of ostomy patients.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to investigate the communication challenges and successes that people with ostomies experienced during their healthcare encounters. DESIGN: We conducted semistructured interviews of people with ostomies. Interviews focused on important social situations and health communication strategies for managing these situations. We transcribed interviews and coded them to create themes. PARTICIPANTS: Participants were eligible to participate if they were above the age of 18 and have had an ostomy for at least a year. 27 people participated in the study. SETTING: The study was conducted in a university setting. RESULTS: Interviews with ostomates surfaced several themes related to ostomate needs. Participants benefited from communication that was open, thorough and had a positive outlook on ostomies. Participants found patient-clinician communication to be challenging when there was a lack of knowledge surrounding ostomy care, communication was unclear or inadequate, and when clinicians had a negative outlook on ostomies. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this project are intended to amplify existing patient and clinician education materials and to inform the creation of a communication guide specifically for the ostomy context.

The labor of talking to stay healthy and socially connected: Communication work during the COVID-19 pandemic.

One of the primary means through which people protect themselves and their loved ones from COVID-19 is by communicating with others, as they discuss preventive health behaviors and make decisions about safe social interaction. These conversations are sometimes quite challenging. Guided by the conceptual lens of communication work, this study was an investigation of how communication during the pandemic was experienced by people as work. Findings validated and extended the communication work construct. Communication during the pandemic is effortful because it is high stakes, relentless, and takes an emotional toll. Nonetheless, many people feel a sense of responsibility and obligation to have these conversations. Communication about COVID-19 is divisible labor that can be shared. People engage in strategic preparation and message design to accomplish multiple goals before, during, and after discussions about pandemic topics.