Obductie nuttig kwaliteitsinstrument vanwege onverwachte, klinisch relevante bevindingen en beantwoording van klinische vragen; een retrospectieve studie

To determine the frequency of unexpected, clinically relevant findings in autopsies performed at the University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and the number of questions posed by the clinician that were answered by the pathologist performing the autopsy.

Design

Descriptive.

Method

All 60 complete autopsy reports of patients older than 10 days for the period January 2000 to April 2000 were compared with the information available from the autopsy application forms and discharge letters.

Results

An unexpected, clinically relevant finding was found in 20 cases (33). The percentage questions answered by the pathologist was 93 (174 out of 187 questions).

Conclusion

Autopsy is an important instrument for improving the quality of medicine.