Abstract
The surgical pathologist’s highest priority is his responsibility to the patient. The importance of clinical information and clinical correlation is recognized by pathologists and regulatory agencies. Such information is vital in leading to a diagnosis that is accurate and appropriately specific. In addition, appropriate clinical information may aid in triage of material for ancillary studies, allowing for economical workup of complex cases. Obtaining accurate clinical information is best accomplished by easy access to the electronic health record, but phone conversations and personal communications are sometimes necessary. With the ever-increasing use of ancillary testing in surgical pathology, clinical correlation is more dependent on the construction of comprehensive surgical pathology reports that reconcile all available clinical and laboratory data. Thus, the pathologist also bears responsibility for documenting clinical history and correlation. Failure to do so may have clinical and medicolegal consequences.
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Volmar, K.E. (2019). Clinical History and Clinical Correlation. In: Nakhleh, R., Volmar, K. (eds) Error Reduction and Prevention in Surgical Pathology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18464-3_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18464-3_7
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