Demographic and practice characteristics of participating pathologists (n=252)
| Does participant's laboratory have a policy requiring a second opinion? | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Participant characteristics | Total n (col %) | No policy n (row %) | Any policy* n (row %) | p Value† |
| Total | 252 (100.0) | 85 (33.7) | 167 (66.3) | |
| Demographics | ||||
| Age at survey (years) | 0.30 | |||
| 30–39 | 32 (12.7) | 9 (28.1) | 23 (71.9) | |
| 40–49 | 87 (34.5) | 25 (28.7) | 62 (71.3) | |
| 50–59 | 90 (35.7) | 32 (35.6) | 58 (64.4) | |
| 60+ | 43 (17.1) | 19 (44.2) | 24 (55.8) | |
| Gender | 0.65 | |||
| Male | 159 (63.1) | 52 (32.7) | 107 (67.3) | |
| Female | 93 (36.9) | 33 (35.5) | 60 (64.5) | |
| State of clinical practice | 0.14 | |||
| Alaska | 8 (3.2) | 4 (50.0) | 4 (50.0) | |
| Maine | 22 (8.7) | 4 (18.2) | 18 (81.8) | |
| Minnesota | 42 (16.7) | 20 (47.6) | 22 (52.4) | |
| New Hampshire | 13 (5.2) | 3 (23.1) | 10 (76.9) | |
| New Mexico | 15 (6.0) | 7 (46.7) | 8 (53.3) | |
| Oregon | 40 (15.9) | 14 (35.0) | 26 (65.0) | |
| Vermont | 20 (7.9) | 8 (40.0) | 12 (60.0) | |
| Washington | 92 (36.5) | 25 (27.2) | 67 (72.8) | |
| Training and experience | ||||
| Laboratory group practice size | 0.19 | |||
| <10 Pathologists | 158 (62.7) | 58 (36.7) | 100 (63.3) | |
| ≥10 Pathologists | 94 (37.3) | 27 (28.7) | 67 (71.3) | |
| Fellowship training in surgical or breast pathology | 0.16 | |||
| No | 129 (51.2) | 41 (31.8) | 88 (68.2) | |
| Yes, breast Pathology | 4 (1.6) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (100.0) | |
| Yes, surgical | 111 (44.0) | 43 (38.7) | 68 (61.3) | |
| Both | 8 (3.2) | 1 (12.5) | 7 (87.5) | |
| Affiliation with academic medical centre | 0.098 | |||
| No | 183 (72.6) | 59 (32.2) | 124 (67.8) | |
| Yes, adjunct/affiliated | 42 (16.7) | 12 (28.6) | 30 (71.4) | |
| Yes, primary appointment | 27 (10.7) | 14 (51.9) | 13 (48.1) | |
| Do your colleagues consider you an expert in breast pathology? | 0.42 | |||
| No | 200 (79.4) | 65 (32.5) | 135 (67.5) | |
| Yes | 52 (20.6) | 20 (38.5) | 32 (61.5) | |
| Clinical practice and experience | ||||
| Breast pathology experience (years) | 0.12 | |||
| <5 | 46 (18.3) | 10 (21.7) | 36 (78.3) | |
| 5–9 | 44 (17.5) | 16 (36.4) | 28 (63.6) | |
| 10–19 | 89 (35.3) | 28 (31.5) | 61 (68.5) | |
| ≥20 | 73 (29.0) | 31 (42.5) | 42 (57.5) | |
| Breast specimen case load (%) | 0.94 | |||
| <10 | 126 (50.0) | 43 (34.1) | 83 (65.9) | |
| 10–24 | 104 (41.3) | 34 (32.7) | 70 (67.3) | |
| ≥25 | 22 (8.7) | 8 (36.4) | 14 (63.6) | |
| No. breast cases (per week) | 0.85 | |||
| <5 | 57 (22.6) | 20 (35.1) | 37 (64.9) | |
| 5–9 | 109 (43.3) | 34 (31.2) | 75 (68.8) | |
| 10–19 | 64 (25.4) | 24 (37.5) | 40 (62.5) | |
| ≥20 | 22 (8.7) | 7 (31.8) | 15 (68.2) | |
*Policy was dichotomised to no policy (includes not known and laboratories that did not require second opinion) versus having a policy requiring a second opinion for at least one of four initial diagnoses (in which percentage of cases requiring a second opinion was >0%). Including invasive cancer, DCIS, atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) and/or benign cases.
†p Value for no policy versus policy from the χ2 test.