Women's Dermatologic Society

  Tips for Communicating with Your Dermatopathologist By Randie Kim, MD This month, we will be discussing the requisition form as the primary form of communication between clinicians and dermatopathologists. The requisition form accompanies a biopsy specimen and ideally contains a specific clinical question for histopathologic interpretation, which is then sent back to the clinician to help guide management. Believe it or not, on average, 20 different handoffs can occur throughout the skin biopsy process (1). What information is typically included on a requisition form? In a survey of 145 surveyed dermatologists (2), three elements were rated as “important” for the requisition form and included biopsy site location, size, and the clinical impression. In contrast, dermatopathologists identified 10 clinical elements that they felt were critical for the requisition form. These included age of the patient, any prior diagnoses, location, duration, morphology, clinical impression, any