The Current Troubled State of the Global Pathology Workforce: a Concise Review

Full Article

The following abstract is drawn from a recently published paper in Diagnostic Pathology. We invite you to read the full paper and join the conversation, become a member of the Pathology News community to share your thoughts, ask questions, and engage with others around this work.

Authors: Elizabeth Walsh ^1,^2,^✉, Nicolas M Orsi ^1,²

Abstract

The histopathology workforce is a cornerstone of cancer diagnostics and is essential to the delivery of cancer services and patient care. The workforce has been subject to significant pressures over recent years, and this review considers them in the UK and internationally. These pressures include declining pathologist numbers, the increasing age of the workforce, and greater workload volume and complexity. Forecasts of the workforce’s future in numerous countries are also not favourable – although this is not universal. Some in the field suggest that the effects of these pressures are already coming to bear, such as the financial costs of the additional measures needed to maintain clinical services. There is also some evidence of a detrimental impact on service delivery, patient care and pathologists themselves. Various solutions have been considered, including increasing the number of training places, enhancing recruitment, shortening pathology training and establishing additional support roles within pathology departments. A few studies have examined the effect of some of these solutions. However, the broader extent of their implementation and impact, if any, remains to be determined. In this regard, it is critical that future endeavours should focus on gaining a better understanding of the benefits of implemented workforce solutions, as well as obtaining more detailed and updated pathology workforce numbers. With a concentrated effort in these areas, the future of the pathology workforce could become brighter in the face of the increased demands on its services.

Read the full article:

The current troubled state of the global pathology workforce: a concise review | Diagnostic Pathology

¹Women’s Health Research Group, Leeds Institute of Medical Research, St James’s University Hospital, University of Leeds, Wellcome Trust Brenner Building, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF UK

²Department of Histopathology, St James’s University Hospital, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Beckett Street, Leeds, LS9 7TF UK

^✉Corresponding author.

PMCID: PMC11662708 PMID: 39709433