A computerized data bank of surgical pathology and cytopathology diagnoses. Structure and purposes

Comparison of manual data coding errors in two hospitals

The routine manual encoding of pathological data, using the SNOP and SNOMED systems at two London teaching hospitals, was reviewed. The error rates in the two departments were compared and the causes analysed. The relative merits of SNOP and SNOMED were considered. Methods to optimise the efficiency of manual encoding are suggested and the importance of accuracy in coding is emphasised.

Microtome: histopathology day book based on a microcomputer system

The development of a histopathology day book based on a microcomputer is described. The system has the capacity to search on file records for details of previous specimens from current patients. It also possesses a SNOP/SNOMED input and search system that can aggregate data for analytical and other purposes. The system is relatively inexpensive and is user friendly. It has been developed within and is exclusively devoted to the requirements of a histopathology department and is designed to permit expansion to a multiuser system.