Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2022
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN

User menu

Search

  • Advanced search
CMAJ
  • CMAJ JOURNALS
    • CMAJ Open
    • CJS
    • JAMC
    • JPN
CMAJ

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Early releases
    • Collections
    • Sections
    • Blog
    • Infographics & illustrations
    • Podcasts
    • COVID-19 Articles
  • Authors
    • Overview for authors
    • Submission guidelines
    • Submit a manuscript
    • Forms
    • Editorial process
    • Editorial policies
    • Peer review process
    • Publication fees
    • Reprint requests
    • Open access
  • CMA Members
    • Overview for members
    • Earn CPD Credits
    • Print copies of CMAJ
  • Subscribers
    • General information
    • View prices
  • Alerts
    • Email alerts
    • RSS
  • JAMC
    • À propos
    • Numéro en cours
    • Archives
    • Sections
    • Abonnement
    • Alertes
    • Trousse média 2022
  • Visit CMAJ on Facebook
  • Follow CMAJ on Twitter
  • Follow CMAJ on Pinterest
  • Follow CMAJ on Youtube
  • Follow CMAJ on Instagram
Letters

Pathology practice in Canada

Jason Ford and Louis Wadsworth
CMAJ August 12, 2008 179 (4) 342; DOI: https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.1080082
Jason Ford MD
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Louis Wadsworth MB ChB
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

In their recent editorial, Kathy Chorneyko and Jagdish Butany made several excellent points about the challenges pathologists face, including human- resource shortages and the need for provincial governments to support quality-assurance efforts.1 Their final recommendation was that a national body be created to oversee quality assurance and set national standards, among other roles. This recommendation, although worthy of consideration, is of uncertain value given the fact that several provincial and other groups already fulfill the roles that the editorialists proposed for their new national body.

Two critical aspects of pathology practice were not discussed in the editorial. First, clinical pathology was not mentioned. Medical biochemists, hematopathologists, medical microbiologists, molecular pathologists, cytogeneticists and other specialists in clinical pathology play vital roles in Canadian medicine. Discussions about human resources in pathology often focus on the practice of anatomic pathology; a broader view would be beneficial.

Second, and more importantly, the editorial did not address the greatest challenge affecting pathologists in Canada: the tendency by provincial governments and health administrators to view hospital-based pathology laboratories as cost centres rather than patient-care centres.2 Laboratory resources, both human and financial, have been reduced again and again, following the recommendations of consultants obsessed with centralization and automation. Sadly, this continual paring of laboratory budgets often leads directly to poorer quality care for Canadians, including misdiagnoses, miscommunications, medical errors, longer turnaround times for results and inappropriate therapies.

Canadians may well benefit from “an appropriately resourced national body to promote excellence in the practice of laboratory medicine,” as the editorialists suggested. However, without appropriately resourced laboratories, such a body would be nothing more than a well-dressed shell.

Footnotes

  • Competing interests: None declared.

REFERENCES

  1. 1.↵
    Chorneyko K, Butany J. Canada's pathology [editorial]. CMAJ 2008;178:1523-4.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
  2. 2.↵
    Ho DK. Restructuring the hospital lab. The view from Ontario. MLO Med Lab Obs 1996;28:52-6.
    OpenUrlPubMed
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Canadian Medical Association Journal: 179 (4)
CMAJ
Vol. 179, Issue 4
12 Aug 2008
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author

Article tools

Respond to this article
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
To sign up for email alerts or to access your current email alerts, enter your email address below:
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on CMAJ.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Pathology practice in Canada
(Your Name) has sent you a message from CMAJ
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the CMAJ web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Pathology practice in Canada
Jason Ford, Louis Wadsworth
CMAJ Aug 2008, 179 (4) 342; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.1080082

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
‍ Request Permissions
Share
Pathology practice in Canada
Jason Ford, Louis Wadsworth
CMAJ Aug 2008, 179 (4) 342; DOI: 10.1503/cmaj.1080082
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Responses
  • Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • PubMed
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • No citing articles found.
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Succinylcholine, malignant hyperthermia and rhabdomyolysis
  • Study authors don’t consider waning SARS-CoV-2 immunity after vaccination in their model
  • The authors respond to criticisms of their model parameters
Show more Letters

Similar Articles

Collections

  • Topics
    • Health policy
    • Pathology

 

View Latest Classified Ads

Content

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Collections
  • Sections
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Alerts
  • RSS
  • Early releases

Information for

  • Advertisers
  • Authors
  • Reviewers
  • CMA Members
  • Media
  • Reprint requests
  • Subscribers

About

  • General Information
  • Journal staff
  • Editorial Board
  • Advisory Panels
  • Governance Council
  • Journal Oversight
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Copyright and Permissions
  • Accessibiity
  • CMA Civility Standards
CMAJ Group

Copyright 2022, CMA Impact Inc. or its licensors. All rights reserved. ISSN 1488-2329 (e) 0820-3946 (p)

All editorial matter in CMAJ represents the opinions of the authors and not necessarily those of the Canadian Medical Association or its subsidiaries.

To receive any of these resources in an accessible format, please contact us at CMAJ Group, 500-1410 Blair Towers Place, Ottawa ON, K1J 9B9; p: 1-888-855-2555; e: cmajgroup@cmaj.ca

Powered by HighWire