The situation of consultation practice in pathology in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE There are some suggestions regarding the methods of consultation practice in the literature including which case will be consulted, to whom, by which transport means, the payment methods as well as the ethical issues. There are no standards for consultations in Turkey. The standardization committee of the Federation of Turkish Pathology Societies has conducted a survey to detect the current situation, determine the problematic aspects, compare the situation with international methods and offer methods specific to Turkey. MATERIAL AND METHOD A survey has been prepared to cover all the aspects of consultation practice using the literature and referring to the current methods used in Turkey. The survey has been announced on the internet and 83 replies were collected. RESULTS Multiple choice questions were evaluated in terms of percentages and open ended questions were grouped according to the answer contents. It was seen that problems could be grouped as follows: absence of written procedures covering each step, means of transport, reaching the consultant, payment, reporting and ethical issues. The absence of procedures and issues regarding the payment methods were the interfering factors for each step of consultation. CONCLUSION There are many problematic issues in consultation practice in pathology in Turkey. The basis of these problems is the absence of written regulations for procedural and payment methods. Regulations addressing these issues should be developed.