Pathologist Workload Assessment in Gastrointestinal Subspecialty: A Pilot comparative study in an academic setting

Abstract Introduction/Objective There are no official guidelines regarding the workload to be received by pathologists, and it is challenging to distribute equivalent workloads across subspecialties. This study aims to determine whether slide count is a reliable workload metric in gastrointestinal (GI) pathology. Additionally, we seek to compare the time allocation differences between GI pathologists involved in medical resident teaching and those dedicated only to anatomical pathology duties. Methods/Case Report This is an observational retrospective cohort study. We recorded the first two hours of a workday of three experienced GI pathologists at Stanford Healthcare in 2022, two of whom were engaged in teaching. The authors carefully retrospectively reviewed the recorded videos to extract relevant information: teaching activities, number of histological slides, specimens, types of tissues analyzed, and resultant diagnosis. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) Two attendings (2 and 3) signed out with residents, while only one worked alone (1). The mean time spent on each case was 199 and 486 seconds different between attendings 1 and 2 and 1 and 3, respectively (p<.01). There was a strong positive correlation between the number of slides and time spent analyzing each case, r =.607. The number of slides per case statistically explained 36.8% of the time spent per case, p <.001. Conclusion In conclusion, the slide count metric only explains 36.8% of the time expenditure, suggesting that more sophisticated workload assessment methods must be developed, particularly if used for workload distribution purposes. Also, GI pathologists involved in medical training take longer to sign out cases than GI pathologists who are not, suggesting that this is an essential factor that should be considered when distributing workloads.