The adoption of Standardized Structured Reporting (SSR) in pathology offers significant potential to improve data consistency, completeness, and interoperability. This study combines quantitative data from an online survey of Belgian pathologists with qualitative insights from focus group interviews to identify key factors influencing SSR implementation. Survey results demonstrate strong support for SSR, particularly in enhancing report uniformity, completeness, and efficiency, especially in multidisciplinary teams and for secondary data use. Despite these advantages, participants identified several challenges, including the integration of SSR with existing IT systems, financial constraints, resistance to change, and legal and regulatory barriers. Focus group interviews reinforced these findings, emphasizing the need for collaboration, technological innovation, and governmental support. Effective strategies for overcoming these barriers include securing funding, providing comprehensive training, improving IT infrastructure, and advocating for supportive legal frameworks. A hybrid approach, balancing centralized standardization with local customization and drawing on international experiences, seems to offer the most promise for successfully integrating SSR into pathology practice.
Keywords: Cancer pathology; Data elements; Data interoperability; Digital pathology; Healthcare IT systems; Implementation strategies; Pathology reporting; Semantic interoperability; Standardized Structured Reporting (SSR); Surveys and interviews; Synoptic reporting.
© 2025. The Author(s).