Skip to main content
PMC home page
Journal of Clinical Pathology logoLink to Journal of Clinical Pathology
. 1989 Nov;42(11):1190–1193. doi: 10.1136/jcp.42.11.1190

Quality assurance programme for necropsies.

M Harrison 1, D O Hourihane 1
PMCID: PMC501980  PMID: 2584432

Abstract

One hundred and eight consecutive necropsies were entered into a quality assessment of the necropsy service in this hospital using a previously published American protocol. Our results were similar to those of the American series, with confirmation of the major clinical diagnosis in 75%, but a higher rate of unsuspected diagnosis (44%). Necropsy was helpful in 58% of cases. The presentation of selected cases at a monthly conference on causes of death was valuable in correlating clinical and pathological findings, and in helping integrate both services.

Full text

PDF
1190

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Cameron H. M., McGoogan E. A prospective study of 1152 hospital autopsies: I. Inaccuracies in death certification. J Pathol. 1981 Apr;133(4):273–283. doi: 10.1002/path.1711330402. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Cameron H. M., McGoogan E. A prospective study of 1152 hospital autopsies: II. Analysis of inaccuracies in clinical diagnoses and their significance. J Pathol. 1981 Apr;133(4):285–300. doi: 10.1002/path.1711330403. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cameron H. M., McGoogan E., Clarke J., Wilson B. A. Trends in hospital necropsy rates: Scotland 1961-74. Br Med J. 1977 Jun 18;1(6076):1577–1580. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.6076.1577. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cameron H. M., McGoogan E., Watson H. Necropsy: a yardstick for clinical diagnoses. Br Med J. 1980 Oct 11;281(6246):985–988. doi: 10.1136/bmj.281.6246.985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Goldman L., Sayson R., Robbins S., Cohn L. H., Bettmann M., Weisberg M. The value of the autopsy in three medical eras. N Engl J Med. 1983 Apr 28;308(17):1000–1005. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198304283081704. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Karwinski B., Svendsen E. Comparison of clinical and postmortem diagnosis of pulmonary embolism. J Clin Pathol. 1989 Feb;42(2):135–139. doi: 10.1136/jcp.42.2.135. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Kircher T., Nelson J., Burdo H. The autopsy as a measure of accuracy of the death certificate. N Engl J Med. 1985 Nov 14;313(20):1263–1269. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198511143132005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Landefeld C. S., Chren M. M., Myers A., Geller R., Robbins S., Goldman L. Diagnostic yield of the autopsy in a university hospital and a community hospital. N Engl J Med. 1988 May 12;318(19):1249–1254. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198805123181906. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lundberg G. D. Medicine without the autopsy. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1984 Jun;108(6):449–454. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Schned A. R., Mogielnicki R. P., Stauffer M. E. A comprehensive quality assessment program on the autopsy service. Am J Clin Pathol. 1986 Aug;86(2):133–138. doi: 10.1093/ajcp/86.2.133. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Stevanovic G., Tucakovic G., Dotlic R., Kanjuh V. Correlation of clinical diagnoses with autopsy findings: a retrospective study of 2,145 consecutive autopsies. Hum Pathol. 1986 Dec;17(12):1225–1230. doi: 10.1016/s0046-8177(86)80564-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Valdes-Dapena M. The postautopsy conference with families. Arch Pathol Lab Med. 1984 Jun;108(6):497–498. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Clinical Pathology are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES