This paper was prepared by the FSM Pathology Advisory Group which includes distinguished pathologists from Australia and New Zealand. The results of pathology tests are often the basis for important decisions in healthcare.
If a patient is going to make an important health-related decision on the basis of a pathology test, it is essential that the test result be accurate and reliable. If a pathology test is not consistently accurate, it is inevitable that a patient will end up making the wrong decision on the basis of an inaccurate result.