Telepathology Impacts and Implementation Challenges: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Context Telepathology is a particular form of telemedicine that fundamentally alters the way pathology services are delivered. Prior reviews in this area have mostly focused on 2 themes, namely technical feasibility issues and diagnosis accuracy. Objectives To synthesize the literature on telepathology implementation challenges and broader organizational and societal impacts and to propose a research agenda to guide future efforts in this domain. Data Sources Two complementary databases were systematically searched: MEDLINE (PubMed) and ABI/INFORM (ProQuest). Peer-reviewed articles and conference proceedings were considered. The final sample consisted of 159 papers published between 1992 and 2013. Conclusions This review highlights the diversity of telepathology networks and the importance of considering these distinctions when interpreting research findings. Various network structures are associated with different benefits. Although the dominant rationale in single-site projects is financial, larger centralized and decentralized telepathology networks are targeting a more diverse set of benefits, including extending access to pathology to a whole region, achieving substantial economies of scale in workforce and equipment, and improving quality by standardizing care. Importantly, our synthesis reveals that the nature and scale of encountered implementation challenges also varies depending on the network structure. In smaller telepathology networks, organizational concerns are less prominent, and implementers are more focused on usability issues. As the network scope widens, organizational and legal issues gain prominence.