The digital pathology industry faces a complex challenge of combining new technology with well-established beliefs and practices.  As a result, digital pathology faces significant psychological adoption barriers- it is the “elephant in the room.”

The famous futurologist Alvin Toffler conducted a detailed study of the acceleration of change and its psychological effects in 1970 for his book Future Shock (Random House, 1971). He suggested that it would lead to a set of severe physical and mental disturbances, which he called the “future shock” syndrome. Just like people exposed to war or disaster may develop a nervous breakdown (“shell-shock”), people exposed to the rapid changes of modern life may develop a state of helplessness and inadequacy.

Digital pathology will introduce new, modern methods to supplement and eventually replace routine diagnosis by microscope. But with the “gold standard” of diagnosis by microscope in use for over 150 years is it not fair to say that the change to digital pathology could put many pathologists into a state of future shock?  Pathologists themselves joke of their archaic methods and dependency on antiquated technology but this dependency could result in feeling helpless or inadequate when faced with the new digital, modern methods of pathology.

Furthermore, the workplace has become a breeding ground for information overload. A worldwide survey (Reuters, 1996) found that two thirds of managers suffer from increased tension and one-third from ill health because of the huge amounts of information they must cope with. So will digital pathology cause pathologists to call in sick?  I hope not, but to avoid additional job stress we must start to discuss how to overcome the psychological barriers of digital pathology.

I recently read an article titled, Managing Innovation Complexity, by Braden Kelly.  Braden says,

The changes required by minor innovations are easier for customers and organizations to absorb. But the large changes generated by major innovations often disrupt not only the market, but the internal workings of the organization as well. This requires organizations to become increasingly flexible and adaptable.

Is your organization “flexible and adaptable?” I imagine many of you are shaking your heads no.  Creating a healthcare organization that is flexible and adaptable is not an easy feat. But Braden continues to say “…with proper planning, organizational learning, and adaptation over time, any organization can improve its ability to cope with, and even anticipate, the change and complexity that come with implementing their next major innovation.”

As healthcare organizations face the major innovation of digital pathology and hopefully take the right steps to prepare and plan, do yourself a favor and create a personal plan to prepare yourself mentally for this transformation and avoid “future shock.”  Do not ignore that tiny voice, your fears, or the elephant sitting on top of your microscope.  Not sure where to begin? Give me a call! I would be happy to help you adjust and prepare for the inevitable compromise between the old way (microscopy) and the new way (digital pathology) of doing things.

Digital Pathology Consultants introduces a new webinar on December 16, 2010 at 12 PM EST/ 9 AM PST titled “Unlock Your Future:  Embrace The Potential Of Pathology” supported by our sponsors at the www.thedigitalpathologywiki.com.

Coaching is unlocking a person’s potential to maximize their own performance.  It is helping them to learn rather than teaching them.- Timothy Gallwey

I am very passionate about the fact that we must consider our people (ie. pathologists, lab managers, histotechs, administrators,  assistants, etc) in the evolution of pathology.  I know that might sound obvious, yet, so often the future of pathology is described by the change in technology, policies, tests, techniques, procedures etc rather then the impact these changes will have on the people involved.  However, these people are essential and the key to all of these changes becoming a success.    I’ve discussed this briefly before in another post titled “Is It Your Hardware, Software, or Peopleware?” This webinar will focus on the needs and benefits of having a professional coach for pathology departments, laboratories, and individuals.  The official description and registration link are below.

Description

The practice of pathology is evolving rapidly and pathologists must prepare for tomorrow. Over the next 10 years several changes such as the advancement of personalized medicine, the onset of electronic medical records, and the emergence of significant technological advances like digital pathology, will greatly impact how a pathologist performs his/her job. Therefore pathologists must start to explore, experiment, and learn new ways of thinking, and working professionally. Coaching has proven to be a very powerful means of guiding and supporting people and/or organizations to solve difficult problems and achieve complex goals. This webinar will discuss how working with a coach can make a difference in your organization and help everyone prepare for the future of pathology.

To register, click here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/458253376

When evaluating innovative technology, like digital pathology, it’s easy to get caught up in the details aka specifications.  But specifications are not going to make digital pathology become a successful part of your department or lab, your staff will.  Therefore, you must evaluate your “peopleware” as throughly as you evaluate the specifications of the scanner, data management, and image analysis software.

Evaluating your “peopleware” will help identify what specifications of the hardware and software will be most important to your digital pathology success.  When evaluating, conduct interviews and send out electronic surveys that can be completed anonymously.  Interviews are an excellent way to gain information and you can also monitor an individuals body language and emotions.  Anonymous electronic surveys will engage people who are not comfortable with interviews and provide methods to easily track and quantify the results.  If you are worried about politics or people not being honest, then consider hiring a third party to help with this.

“Peopleware” are not just your pathologists.  Involve IT personnel, histotechs, administrative staff, your clients, consulting pathologists, and anyone else who could be impacted by your implementation of digital pathology.  That way, when you are ready to start evaluating hardware and software, your questions will be more specific to obtaining great results rather then specifications.

Instead of:

• How fast does the scanner capture one slide?
• What is the file size of that scanned slide?
• Can it do oil?
• Can I generate a report?
• Does it provide image analysis?

You will ask open-ended questions like:

• We are looking to scan “X” pathology slides per day, how much hardware would be needed to achieve that throughput in an 12 hour period?
• Our IT staff would like to understand the amount of data storage, backup requirements, and networking infrastructure recommended to support our scan volume of “X” slides per day.
• We have a Hematopathology resident program and would like to scan and archive unique cases.  What do you recommend to scan these types of slides and then manage the data for teaching?
• We would like to have a report that incorporates case information and pictures while streamlining access to other diagnostic reports and images, What do you offer?
• We are interested in obtaining quantifiable data that could aid in our research of “X” and the clinical diagnosis of “Y”?  What do you suggest?

Your “peopleware” will be essential to your success.  Therefore,  remember to keep an open line of communication, ask engaging open-ended questions, and reinforce that the input you receive is appreciated and valuable.

Special thanks to Charles Ladoulis MD, for the term “peopleware”.  I love it!