This aim of this project is to longitudinally evaluate intraoperative evaluations (frozen sections) in pathology. Intraoperative evaluations occur by request of the attending surgeon, when an immediate answer to a pathology question is needed by the surgical team in order to determine intraoperative management for the patient. As the specific intraoperative questions being asked are becoming increasingly detailed and complex, the subspecialty expertise of specific pathologists is often warranted in order to adequately satisfy the surgeon's needs. Additionally, the gross room, where frozen sections are processed, is at a geographic distance from the subspecialty pathologists offices. Therefore, a system of remote telepathology has been established in order for images to be transmitted digitally, and for interpretation to occur remotely.

Because of the complex nature of this workflow, the labor required to perform the tasks, the time sensitivity of these specimens, and the anticipated increase in frozen section requests following establishment of the cancer center, a more detailed examination of intraoperative evaluations is desired. The goal is to retrospectively review intraoperative evaluations in order to provide more detailed daily, weekly, and monthly metrics to guide workflow going forward.

The role of the student will be in data collection, management, and analysis based on indicators provided by the faculty mentors.

Aims include but are not limited to: determining surgical subspecialties that are high-volume users of this service, times of day or days of week that are high-volume, the nature of the complex specimens, turnaround times, use of pathology subspecialty consultants, concordance / discrepancy between frozen and permanent evaluation, etc. The purpose is to determine appropriate staffing of the pathology gross room, to provide feedback to surgeons regarding surgical<->pathology workflow, to manage expectations for turnaround time, and to gauge answerability of the intraoperative questions. The findings derived from this project could be presented at the Pathology department Quality Assurance meetings, submitted to the annual Medical Center Quality and Safety Symposium, presented as an abstract at an external conference, and/or prepared into a manuscript for publication if deemed appropriate by the faculty mentors.

Some data already exist in excel spreadhsheets. Additional (more recent data) will be gathered in Epic Slicer Dicer. The student will work with the faculty mentors to ask relevant questions and analyze data based on clinically relevant indicators. The intern will be required to perform statistical analysis and to create tables, charts, or other graphical representations as discussed with the mentors and other pathology/surgery stakeholders.

Epic / Slicer Dicer, Excel, PPT, other statistical software (such as R) preferred by student.

All pathology department meetings (including resident didactics, quality assurance meetings, and/or daily signouts).

Annual pathology meetings for national societies, if poster is accepted (USCAP, CAP, ASCP, etc).

Medical Center Quality & Safety Symposium.