Benchmarking pathology services: Implementing a longitudinal study

This paper details the benchmarking process and its application to the acti vities of pathology laboratories participating in a benchmark pilot study [ the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasian (RCPA) Benchmarking Proje ct]. The discussion highlights the primary issues confronted in collecting, processing, analysing and comparing benchmark data. The paper outlines the benefits of engaging in a benchmarking exercise and provides a framework w hich can be applied across a range of public health settings. This informat ion is then applied to a review of the development of the RCPA Benchmarking Project. Consideration is also given to the nature of the preliminary resu lts of the project and the implications of these results to the on-going co nduct of the study.