CAPcasts

The daily challenges of clinical laboratory oversight are mushrooming. Keeping abreast of changes in technology, new and innovative clinical programs for patient care, and new attendant clinical guidelines, compounded by a shifting regulatory landscape, contribute to these challenges. In this CAPcast, pathologist Dr. Robert Dufour will discuss some of these challenges and how some innovative programs and best practices can help pathologists better manage their laboratories. Dr. Dufour is teaching a course on this topic on Monday, Oct. 9 at the CAP17 meeting in the Washington, DC area.

The CAP’s Graduate Medical Education Committee recently published recommendations for Entrustable Professional Activities—or EPAs—for pathology in the journal Academic Pathology (http://capatholo.gy/2xvOXqJ).

In this CAPcast from the College of American Pathologists, committee vice-chair Dr. Cindy McCloskey from the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine discusses how and why these recommendations came about and how they can be another means to determine proficiency and evaluate educational outcomes in the workplace and training environment.

The 2017 CAP Checklist Edition has just been released, and it contains several updates to the Individualized Quality Control Plans—also known as IQCP—required for CAP Accredited Labs.

In this CAPcast, CAP Checklist Committee Chair Dr. William West discusses the key changes that CAP accredited laboratories need to know about to implement these updates.

For more information, please visit the IQCP Resources Page on CAP.org: http://capatholo.gy/2xv0l6l!.

The CAP recently released 52 cancer protocols for reporting pathologic features in the treatment of cancer patients, also known as the CAP Cancer Protocols. These revised protocols now incorporate changes to tumor stage classification from the American Joint Committee on Cancer 8th Edition Cancer Staging Manual.

In this CAPcast, Dr. Thomas Baker, chair of the CAP Cancer Committee, discusses these updates. Dr. Baker will also be teaching a course on this topic, along with Dr. Mahul Amin, on Oct. 9 at CAP17 at the Gaylord National, near Washington, DC. Registration is now open for CAP17:http://www.thepathologistsmeeting.org.

The healthcare payment landscape is changing fast and the financial impacts for physicians could be enormous. In this CAPcast, Dr. Diana Cardona will discuss the primary issues related to Medicare’s quality program and physician fee schedule that will impact pathologists. Dr. Cardona is the Medical Director of the Surgical Pathology and Immunopathology Laboratories at Duke University Medical Center.

If you are attending CAP17 in the Washington, DC, region, be sure to register for Dr. Diana Cardona’s session entitled, Medicare’s New Quality Payment Program and the Physician Fee Schedule—You Can Run But You Can’t Hide, on Monday, Oct. 9 from 2-4pm. She will be joined by other CAP advocacy leaders in teaching this course, Drs. Stephen Black-Schaffer, Patrick Godbey, and Jonathan L. Myles. Registration is now open online at thepathologistsmeeting.org.

CAP17 (www.thepathologistsmeeting.org) puts storytelling front and center at the Inspiration Stage. On Tuesday, October 10th at 5:30, three compelling storytellers will step onto the Inspiration Stage to share their personal journey toward being the change they want to see in the society, in medicine, and in innovation.

In this CAPcast, one of the storytellers, Dr. Susan Rollins, discusses the event and the importance of storytelling for pathologists and patients.

When it comes to liver pathology, many practicing pathologists find non-neoplastic liver biopsy interpretation challenging, as well as how to optimize the use of ancillary testing modalities, like special stains to analyze liver biopsies. In this CAPcast, Dr. Robert M. Najarian discusses this and other challenges related to liver pathology as well as share suggestions to improve communication between practicing pathologists and liver specialists. Dr. Najarian, a pathologist at Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, will be teaching a course on this topic on Oct. 8 at CAP17 in the Washington, DC area. Register now for CAP17:http://www.thepathologistsmeeting.org/.

Twitter use by physicians, especially pathologists, continues to grow. Twitter provides an easy-to-use communications platform for rapid education, news, and networking that helps busy pathologists stay engaged and informed without taking up much time. Many pathologists see the benefits of joining Twitter but are unsure about how to get started.

In this CAPcast, Drs. Sara Jiang and Jerad Gardner discuss why pathologists should embrace Twitter and how this social media tool has benefited their careers. Drs. Jiang and Gardner will be leading a CAP 17 workshop on this topic, entitled: CAP Foundation Keitges Program on Medical Ethics: Get Tweeting: A Hands-On Interactive Twitter Primer for Pathologists on Monday, Oct 9.

And if you are already active on social media and want to further hone your skills, don’t miss Dr. Jiang and Dr. Gardner’s Roundtable Lunch Discussions at CAP 17. On Sunday, Oct. 8 at 12pm, Dr. Gardner will be leading, “Lessons From a Social Media Pro: Harnessing the Full Power of Twitter and Facebook for Career Development.” And then on Monday, Oct. 9 at 12pm, Dr. Jiang will be leading another lunchtime discussion entitled, “Twitter Beyond the Basics: Analytics, Journal Clubs, and Optimizing Your Efficiency.” Registration for all of these CAP17 events is now open online at http://www.thepathologistsmeeting.org or by clicking on the CAP17 link on http://www.cap.org.

ISO 15189 is an international quality standard for medical laboratories. One of the best practices addressed in this standard is risk management. In this CAPcast from the College of American Pathologists, Dr. Frank Schneider, chair of CAP’s 15189 Committee, discusses ISO 15189 and risk management. Dr. Schneider, a pathologist at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, is also the co-author of a chapter on this topic in the new book, Quality Management in Anatomic Pathology, out now from CAP Press: http://capatholo.gy/2tnSsi1. The CAP 15189 program has issued a Risk Management Guideline that provides additional detail about the ISO 15189 requirements for risk management: http://capatholo.gy/2vjbeo4.

Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50. In Milwaukee County, opioid-related deaths are now one-third of the autopsy workload, outnumbering motor vehicle-related and homicide deaths combined, explains Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Brian Peterson. In this CAPcast, Dr. Peterson discusses the factors fueling the rise of the opioid epidemic, how it’s overwhelming the nation’s forensic pathologists and even threatening their laboratory’s accreditation in some cases. Dr. Peterson, who is also the president of the National Association of Medical Examiners will also share his thoughts on what needs to be done to counteract this strain, given this epidemic is showing no signs of reversing course.