Entropy and expertise: assessing changes in pathologists' language over time using the UK liver pathology external quality assessment scheme
Callaghan, Jonathan P Freimane, Katrina Z Brown, Rachel M Cratchley, Alyn L Kendall, Timothy J
Callaghan, Jonathan P
Freimane, Katrina Z
Brown, Rachel M
Cratchley, Alyn L
Kendall, Timothy J
Abstract
External Quality Assessment (EQA) schemes are an important quality assurance tool and aim to ensure consistency among histopathologists. In this study, we use Shannon entropy as a novel metric to evaluate linguistic variability in the UK Liver Pathology EQA scheme. Analysing free-text responses by participants over a decade, we aimed to quantify language trends in morphological assessments and clinicopathological diagnoses. Accounting for an increasing word count and when pathologists joined the scheme, our findings reveal a significant increase in entropy of morphological assessments over time, indicating growing linguistic diversity that may reflect the increasing complexity of liver pathology. Entropy of clinicopathological diagnoses over the same period did not provide clear evidence for convergent diagnostic language. High entropy corresponded to cases that elicited more diverse responses and could be considered more challenging, highlighting the utility of this method to identify potential areas for targeted education. We demonstrate entropy as a novel tool to analyse pathologist language and enhance quality assurance in the evolving pathology landscape.
MIDER Authors
Date
2025-07
Type
Article
Subject
Collections
Citation
Callaghan JP, Freimane KZ, Brown RM, Cratchley AL, Kendall TJ. Entropy and expertise: assessing changes in pathologists' language over time using the UK Liver Pathology External Quality Assessment scheme. J Pathol Clin Res. 2025 Jul;11(4):e70032. doi: 10.1002/2056-4538.70032.
Journal / Source Title
The journal of pathology. Clinical research
DOI
10.1002/2056-4538.70032
PMID
40511524
Publisher
Wiley Blackwell
Publisher’s URL
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/journals/?term=101658534
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2056-4538
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)2056-4538