When Faster Isn’t Better: The Real Value of Automation in Pathology

A reflection on the 2025 DP-AI Workshop by Melanie Shedd, Voicebrook's VP of Product.

During the Association of Pathology Informatics' Digital Pathology & AI Workshop at Google HQ in Chicago, I was part of a deep dive panel on Automation, Innovation, and Transformation for the AP Lab of the Future. One particular question from that panel discussion really stood out to me:

 “How much faster do we really need to sign out cases?”

It’s a great question and one that deserves more attention.

In conversations about automation, we often focus on speed. The goal seems obvious: get results out faster. And in some contexts, that absolutely matters. For labs that still rely on transcription or face unnecessary multi-day turnaround times, automation can dramatically shorten the path from diagnosis to patient care. In those cases, speed directly impacts outcomes.

But for many labs that have already streamlined their workflows — those that have removed the biggest bottlenecks — shaving off another few minutes doesn’t fundamentally change anything. At that point, the conversation shifts. The next frontier of automation isn’t about going faster; it’s about thinking better.

Voicebrook at the DP-AI Workshop, sharing our vision for the future of pathology.

Modern automation should aim to reduce mental fatigue, not just clock time. Pathologists and lab professionals spend their days managing complex information, switching between systems, and maintaining intense focus on details that matter profoundly. Each manual click, redundant entry, or fragmented workflow adds to cognitive load. Over time, that invisible friction erodes energy, attention, and, ultimately, quality.

The true promise of automation is to give that focus back. When systems are designed to anticipate needs, understand context, and connect seamlessly, they remove distractions that drain mental bandwidth. That’s where quality improves — not because cases move faster, but because pathologists can bring their full concentration to interpretation and decision-making.

In this sense, automation becomes less about efficiency metrics and more about human performance. It’s a quiet kind of progress: helping people think more clearly, work more comfortably, and sustain excellence in a profession where precision and judgment are everything.

Melanie Shedd at the DP-AI 9.0 Workshop.

The labs that will lead the future aren’t necessarily the fastest — they’re the ones that use technology to make the work itself lighter, smarter, and more connected. Because in the end, the goal isn’t just speed. It’s clarity, confidence, and better outcomes for patients.