Farzana Shafique*, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia Dalal Muhammad Al-Tammimi*, University of Dammam, Dammam, Saudi Arabia Track: Practice Presentation Topic: Public (e-)health, population health technologies, surveillance Presentation Type: Poster presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Last modified: 2014-09-08

If you are the presenter of this abstract (or if you cite this abstract in a talk or on a poster), please show the QR code in your slide or poster (QR code contains this URL).

Background: In this digital era, every field is getting benefits of the computer revolution. The field of health and medicine is one of the leading fields which is extensively using new emerging technologies in its different tasks. The concept of e-pathology or telepathology is also the result of this digital revolution. Many studies have shown that e-Pathology provides smooth and efficient conferencing and sharing capabilities that can be used in a wide variety of contexts. These capabilities are especially beneficial when addressing issues related to shortages of pathologists or when the need arises to confer with internal or external specialists on complex cases (Schwartz & Heffner, 2013).
Objective: Keeping the merits of e-pathology in view, this study aims at exploring the state of e-pathology practices at King Fahd University Hospital (KFUH).
Methods: For this purpose a qualitative study was designed. The study was based on personal observation and interviews of the staff (consultants, physicians, and laboratory technicians) working in the Department of Anatomic Pathology at KFUH. Semi structure interview questions were prepared for this purpose, though the semi structured questions led to the subsequent questions on the spot. The observations were made by the authors to explore the state of current practices at the Unit. The observation and interview data were qualitatively analyzed to reach at conclusions.
Results and Conclusions: It is important to note that only few years ago, the Department of Anatomic Pathology at King Fahd University Hospital (KFUH) decided to initiate e-pathology practice. In 2012, a "Telepathology Unit" also known as "Whole slide imaging Unit" was established equipped with state of the art technologies and tools. A dedicated server was launched for accessing Virtual Private Network (VPN) locally and remotely. This unit selects the slides of interesting cases and then scan and archive the same in a database for educational purposes. Initially, the department started e-consultation informally by seeking consultancy from personal contacts in Canada and USA. However, e-consultation took a formal form when KFUH did a formal agreement with University of Toronto, Canada.
In the current scenario, it was found after in-depth interviews with the consultants, physicians, and laboratory technicians that e-pathology is still in its infancy at KFUH. Only cases of interest are being scanned and digitized. Senior consultants are still not ready to start using the e-slides for diagnosis. However, junior consultants, and physicians are more inclined to use the e-pathology technologies. They are convinced with the high quality of digital slide images and possibility of instant sharing of these images with the external community for the sake of consultancy. It was also observed that most of the interview respondents believe that yet they are not getting the perceived benefits of e-pathology and it may take seven to ten years to achieve the goal of e-pathology at KFUH in real sense.
References
Schwartz, Jared, & Heffner, S. (2013). ePathology. Medical Laboratory Observer, 45(11), 30-31. Retrieved March 17, 2014, from: http://search.proquest.com/docview/1458729548?accountid=136546