Greater productivity with digital pathology at Granada University Hospitals in Spain
- By Philips
- Featuring
- March 03 2025
- 3 min read
Granada University Hospitals is a system that offers advanced care to more than 900,000 people in Andalusia, in the south of Spain. The hospital group has moved away from use of the traditional microscope, choosing the Philips Digital Pathology Solution (Digital Pathology Solution—IntelliSite) and becoming the first fully digital pathology laboratory in Spain, improving productivity and supporting its mission of excellent patient care.
At-a-glance:
- Granada University Hospitals uses the Philips Digital Pathology Solution to increase efficiency and enhance diagnostic confidence in its pathology results
- On average, pathologists saw an efficiency increase of more than 20%
- Transition to the digital pathology solution was accomplished in just 60 days
- All team pathologists have reported a clear preference for digital pathology slides, compared to working with a microscope
More productive with digital pathology, Granada University Hospitals
How digital pathology streamlines workload and enhances care
The team of 23 pathologists diagnoses more than 280,000 tissue slides each year and is the first fully digital pathology lab in Spain, serving hospitals in and around Granada. Digitalization is necessary for the eventual evolution to computational pathology.
Dr. Raimundo Garcia Del Moral, Director of the Provincial Laboratory of Pathological Anatomy, says, “Digital pathology is the system that turns a subjective activity into an objective one. It used to be the visualization of a microscope, therefore digital pathology implies transforming the image the human eye perceives into a digital image, susceptible for analysis.” “This image can then be analyzed, measured, quantified, photographed, compared and simultaneously shared with other pathologists. In fact, the facility has been able to centralize the entire pathology laboratory process through digitization, keeping pathologists in contact with the main lab when they’re working at outlying hospitals.”
“After the laboratory and digital pathology systems were unified, the digital pathology system was implemented in just 60 days. This is in contrast to other groups in Spain, working with a different system that reportedly requires years to digitize even 30-40% of their cases.”
Philips IntelliSite system is a perfect system for telepathology because, in real time—and that’s very important—it’s possible to share images via online streaming between two pathologists and also make the anatomical pathological diagnosis.
“The efficiency increase for the hospital system is significant, with a more than 20% increase* for some pathologists on average. The group estimates it’s been able to save 13 hours per day, reducing the need for longer shifts or additional staff. Most pathologists at Granada University Hospitals report that it took less than seven days to become familiar with the digital workflow. All team pathologists have reported a clear preference for digital pathology slides, compared to working with a microscope.“
