Digital Pathology Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Digital Pathology Service Managers, Laboratory Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HSM-048

Before you join: Participants should have practical familiarity with pathology laboratory operations, clinical service management, laboratory quality systems, health IT, or digital transformation projects.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Digital pathology programmes depend on more than scanner installation. Health systems must redesign specimen flow, validate whole-slide imaging for intended diagnostic use, connect scanners and viewers to laboratory information systems, protect patient data, and maintain service continuity when technology fails. Poorly defined workflows can create rescans, reporting delays, image-quality concerns, unclear accountability and resistance from laboratory or clinical staff.

This course prepares participants to manage digital pathology as a clinical service. It covers service models, pre-analytical controls, scanning operations, DICOM and HL7 integration, validation studies, quality indicators, workforce planning, information security, supplier management and benefits realisation. Participants learn to build a validation master plan, define quality controls, assess workflow risks using FMEA, establish governance arrangements and monitor capacity, turnaround, rescan rates and diagnostic concordance.

Teaching combines concise technical briefings with pathology service cases, group analysis, workflow simulations and structured planning discussions. Participants work with realistic scenarios involving scanner failures, LIS interfaces, remote reporting, phased deployment and diagnostic validation. Each participant leaves with a practical digital pathology management pack containing templates and plans that can be adapted for a laboratory, hospital network or regional pathology service. The course includes five instructor-led days, delivered in classrooms in 50+ cities or live online, and a certificate of completion.

It is suited to professionals responsible for pathology operations, laboratory quality, clinical technology, service transformation or digital health governance. The course addresses management of established and planned digital pathology services rather than histopathology interpretation.

What you will be able to do

  • Design a digital pathology service model covering workflow, roles, capacity and governance
  • Specify scanner, viewer, storage and integration requirements using operational criteria
  • Develop a whole-slide imaging validation plan with concordance and risk controls
  • Apply FMEA to identify and prioritise digital pathology workflow failures
  • Monitor service performance using quality indicators, dashboards and control charts
  • Create workforce, competency and change-management plans for digital pathology deployment
  • Assess privacy, cybersecurity and business continuity controls for pathology image systems
  • Prepare a business case and implementation roadmap for a digital pathology service

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Produce defensible whole-slide imaging validation documentation
  • Manage scanner exceptions and image-quality escalation confidently
  • Lead informed discussions with pathology, IT and supplier teams
  • Build measurable digital pathology implementation plans
  • Strengthen readiness for laboratory digital transformation roles

For your organisation

  • Reduced rescans and avoidable delays through defined quality controls
  • Safer diagnostic deployment through documented validation and risk management
  • Clearer accountability across pathology, laboratory, IT and supplier teams
  • More reliable capacity planning for scanners, storage and reporting workloads
  • Stronger evidence for investment decisions, audits and management review

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define a digital pathology service model with clear scope, roles, workflows and governance.

  • Digital pathology service models: primary diagnosis, consultation, education and research
  • End-to-end specimen workflow from accessioning through archive retrieval
  • Roles of pathologists, biomedical scientists, IT, quality and suppliers
  • Current-state process maps using swimlanes, handoffs and decision points
  • Service demand profiles: slide volumes, turnaround targets and case mix
  • Benefits realisation linked to diagnostic capacity, access and turnaround

Participants can establish scanning workflows and controls that produce diagnostically suitable whole-slide images.

  • Pre-analytical variables affecting whole-slide image quality and diagnostic fitness
  • Slide preparation controls: fixation, section thickness, staining and coverslipping
  • Scanner selection criteria: throughput, magnification, z-stack, barcode and interoperability
  • Scanning protocols matched to specimen type, stain and clinical purpose
  • Image artefact triage: focus errors, tissue folds, bubbles and striping
  • Rescan rules, exception queues and audit trails for failed slides

Participants can specify information flows and integration controls across digital pathology systems.

  • Laboratory information system integration points for orders, cases and reports
  • DICOM whole-slide imaging objects, metadata fields and transfer syntax
  • Patient and case identifiers reconciled across LIS, scanners and viewers
  • HL7 messaging patterns for status updates and report availability
  • Vendor-neutral archive design, retention schedules and retrieval performance
  • Interface test scripts covering positive, negative and exception scenarios

Participants can plan and document validation of whole-slide imaging for defined diagnostic uses.

  • Validation master plan defining intended use, acceptance criteria and governance
  • CAP whole-slide imaging validation principles for diagnostic use
  • Concordance studies using representative cases, observers and washout periods
  • Sample-size rationale, discrepancy classification and adjudication workflows
  • Risk-based validation using FMEA severity, occurrence and detectability scores
  • Change-control triggers for scanner software, viewer updates and workflow changes
  • Validation reports documenting evidence, deviations, approvals and release decisions

Participants can operate quality controls and performance monitoring for a digital pathology service.

  • Quality management system alignment with ISO 15189 requirements
  • Daily scanner checks: calibration, focus, colour and barcode readability
  • Quality indicators: rescan rate, failure rate, turnaround and concordance
  • Statistical process control charts for scanner performance trends
  • Nonconformity handling through root-cause analysis and CAPA records
  • Internal audits testing digital workflow controls and document currency

Participants can design scalable workflows, staffing arrangements and competency controls for digital pathology.

  • Future-state workflow design using value-stream mapping and takt-time analysis
  • Case routing rules based on subspecialty, urgency, location and workload
  • Workload models combining slide volumes, scanning capacity and reporting demand
  • Staffing plans for scanning, quality review, IT support and escalation
  • Standard work instructions for slide custody, scanning and exception resolution
  • Competency matrices covering pathologists, laboratory staff and administrators
  • Training records, observation checklists and annual reassessment schedules

Participants can manage adoption activities, deployment readiness and benefits tracking for digital pathology.

  • Stakeholder mapping for pathology, IT, clinical services, patients and suppliers
  • ADKAR change plan addressing awareness, knowledge, ability and reinforcement
  • Communication matrix specifying messages, owners, channels and timing
  • Pilot deployment criteria, go-live readiness and hypercare arrangements
  • Resistance logs distinguishing workflow concerns, usability issues and governance questions
  • Benefits tracking against baseline turnaround, referral and travel measures

Participants can establish information security, clinical safety and continuity controls for digital pathology.

  • Clinical safety hazards documented through hazard logs and mitigations
  • Data protection impact assessments for image access, sharing and retention
  • Role-based access control, multifactor authentication and least-privilege permissions
  • ISO 27001 control selection for digital pathology information assets
  • Cybersecurity incident playbooks for ransomware, outages and unauthorised access
  • Business continuity procedures for scanner failure, network loss and viewer downtime
  • Remote reporting safeguards for displays, connections, location and confidentiality

Participants can assess supplier proposals and prepare investment cases for digital pathology services.

  • Business case structure: costs, benefits, risks, dependencies and assumptions
  • Total cost of ownership covering scanners, storage, licences, support and refresh
  • Request-for-proposal requirements for performance, interoperability, service levels and security
  • Supplier evaluation scorecards using weighted criteria and evidence ratings
  • Service-level agreements for uptime, response, maintenance and escalation
  • Implementation roadmap with milestones, resource owners, dependencies and decision gates
  • Benefits realisation register with measures, baselines, targets and review dates

Participants can run governance routines and improvement plans for sustained digital pathology performance.

  • Operational dashboard design for capacity, quality, access and turnaround
  • Monthly governance meetings using exception reports, risks and action logs
  • Management review inputs required by ISO 15189 quality systems
  • Data-driven improvement cycles using Plan-Do-Study-Act methodology
  • Post-implementation review comparing realised benefits against approved business case
  • Personal 90-day application plan with priorities, stakeholders and milestones

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Digital pathology service governance model
  2. Whole-slide imaging validation master plan
  3. Scanner quality-control checklist
  4. Digital pathology FMEA risk register
  5. Implementation business case template
  6. Ninety-day application plan

Who should attend

  • Digital Pathology Service Managers — accountable for implementation, performance and service governance
  • Laboratory Managers — responsible for specimen flow, staffing, quality and turnaround
  • Consultant Pathologists — involved in diagnostic validation, reporting workflow and clinical adoption
  • Biomedical Scientists — responsible for slide preparation, scanning controls and exception handling
  • Health Informatics Managers — managing LIS, viewer, archive and interface requirements
  • Quality and Risk Managers — overseeing validation evidence, audits, CAPA and clinical safety controls

Skills and tools covered

Digital pathology governanceWhole-slide validationLaboratory workflow designQuality indicator managementClinical systems integrationPathology service planning

Tools and standards

DICOM, ISO 15189, ISO/IEC 27001, CAP Guideline for Validating Whole Slide Imaging

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish clinical, technical and management concepts, followed by pathology service cases and facilitated group work. Participants analyse specimen workflows, validation evidence, scanner performance data, security incidents and procurement options. Simulations address go-live decisions, image-quality exceptions and service disruption. Structured application planning helps participants translate course methods into priorities for their own laboratory or health system. Trainers adapt cases and discussion depth to the participants' service maturity and responsibilities.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical familiarity with pathology laboratory operations, clinical service management, laboratory quality systems, health IT, or digital transformation projects. They should understand basic specimen-to-report workflow and the responsibilities of laboratory, pathology and IT teams. Experience with histology, LIS administration, scanner operation, quality management or clinical governance is useful. The course does not require programming, image-analysis expertise, vendor-specific scanner training, statistical specialisation or prior experience running a digital pathology deployment.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should understand basic pathology laboratory workflow, health IT, quality management or clinical service operations. No programming, scanner engineering or image-analysis experience is required.

Bring any non-confidential workflow maps, quality indicators, business cases or implementation questions relevant to your service. A laptop is useful for online delivery and for working with course templates.

It is designed for digital pathology managers, laboratory managers, pathologists, biomedical scientists, informatics managers and quality professionals. It is particularly useful for teams planning, piloting or scaling whole-slide imaging services.

Scanner training focuses on operating a particular vendor platform. This course focuses on managing the clinical service around the technology, including validation, workflow, governance, quality, integration, security and investment decisions.

Participants can use the validation, risk, quality-control and implementation templates to assess their current service or structure a planned deployment. The methods support discussions with pathology, laboratory, IT, procurement and senior management teams.

The programme provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, normally from 08:30 to 16:30 each day. Teaching follows ten linked modules, moving from service design and scanning operations to validation, governance, security, procurement and improvement planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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