The session will introduce the audience to an open source digital pathology platform that has been built for pathology education. Digital pathology offers a lot of advantages for pathology education. The platform not only provides easy and free access to thousands of digital slides, it also provides software tools to make and present spectacular presentations, develop quizzes, have group discussions and provide or get CMEs. Medical schools and pathology departments can construct courses, lectures and share and distribute with students who can avail of them from anywhere, anytime and on any device.

 

Students will learn how to construct courses, lectures and share and distribute with students the tools offered by the platform.

 

All are welcome to attend!

All are welcome to attend!

The 2018 NRMP match data shows that 601 pathology residency spots were offered nationwide, and of those, 237 filled with US seniors (MDs and DOs). This translates into a 36.6% fill rate, which is the lowest compared to other medical specialties. With a rumored future shortage of pathologists, it is important to inform medical students of this specialty as a possible career option.

 

The workshop presenters will consist of practicing pathologists, pathology resident(s), and medical students, who are already interested in pathology.

 

The focus of this workshop is to present information regarding this specialty and have a candid discussion with audience participation. The intended audience for this workshop is primarily medical students, who may want to consider pathology (including pathology medical education) as a career option.

 

Workshop Objectives:

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

1.) Identify the role of pathologists within the medical field.

2.) Learn basic information about pathology as a career field (salary, average work hours, etc.).

3.) Identify personality traits and preferences favorable to pathologists.

4.) Understand some “pros” and “cons” in becoming a pathologist.

Presented by the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC)

While the characteristics of Millennial learners and their differences from older educators have been widely discussed with regard to medical education, a new generation of learners will soon be entering health education: Generation Z.  Although they share many similarities to their Millennial predecessors, their perspectives and preferences may have an impact on how Gen Z students approach medical training with implications for instruction and beyond.  This session will review the basics of the generations active in medical education today with particular focus on the characteristics of Generation Z students.

 

Following this session, audience members will be able to:

Since 2007, 17 new medical schools in the U.S. have gained full accreditation, according to a U.S. News analysis, and the number of new medical school is projected to increase. As this has occurred, medical education is also transforming how the medical school curriculum is being taught. As an exponential amount of new medical knowledge continues to grow, more time efficient teaching methods are sought, which is transforming how medical curricula is given. This is especially true in pathology, since it is typically taught in the pre-clinical years (first two years of medical school).

 

The workshop presenters will consist of practicing pathology medical educators to help start a discussion. 

 

The focus of this workshop is to present information regarding this specialty and have a candid discussion that includes audience participation. The intended audience for this workshop is primarily pathology residents, who may want to consider pathology medical education as a career option.

 

By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

1.) Identify the role of pathology medical educators within the medical field.

2.) Learn basic information about pathology as a career field (average salaries, average work hours, etc.).

3.) Identify personality traits and preference favorable to pathology medical educators.

4.) Understand some “pro” and “cons” in becoming a pathology medical educator.

This session will review the steps used to adapt the didactic large group lectures of a pathology residency program into active learning experiences. Studies have demonstrated the use of digital learning can decrease mental effort, enhance learning of moderate to high complexity tasks, and provide a more effective use of class time with overall increased student satisfaction. Based on these findings, different digital technologies were implemented to improve the delivery of essential didactic content in our pathology residency curriculum.

 

Pathology resident evaluations at our institution suggested that the value of the daily lecture-based didactic sessions was limited and resident attendance at the required didactic sessions was poor. Working with residents to improve the value of the daily sessions, different digital education technologies were implemented in our curriculum to enhance learning and increase engagement. Asynchronous recordings were generated to allow for more timely delivery of basic material needed before high complexity skills such as surgical pathology grossing. An audience response system was implemented to allow for all residents to assess their understanding of content presented by faculty. A series of case-based interactive application sessions with audience participation were designed to focus on content that is not readily learned through active service responsibilities. This workshop will present the approach and outcomes of implementing different digital technologies in our pathology residency curriculum. Demonstrations of different technologies will be presented as well as the mechanism of integrating the technology into existing curricular components.

 

Attendees will be able to:

This workshop is applicable to GRIPE members whose institutions are either considering a move from a traditional to an integrated curriculum or already have an integrated curriculum, and who seek to maintain and enhance visibility of pathology in this context. The presenters are Co-Stewards of Pathology in the University of California, San Francisco Bridges Curriculum, and will demonstrate best practices related to curriculum design, content development, faculty representation, student assessment, and student engagement in integrated medical curricula. In keeping with this year’s theme on Making Pathology Relevant to Millennial Learners, we will also discuss recruitment strategies to promote pathology as a career choice for students.
 

Attendees will be able to:

The use of technology and digital platforms in medical education is an integral part of many programs and courses. The misconception amongst many is that one needs to be a technology expert/ computer programmer to be able to build and incorporate such tools in their particular area of interest/coursework. There are many tools made easily accessible and available to the average user that could help build and incorporate such tools in various settings. This session will discuss such possibilities and help in introducing such tools for an audience with a wide background in this technology discipline.

 

A common frustration for students is the challenge of assembling a mental ‘big picture’ that incorporates basic science information from multiple disciplines and applies that information to a clinical problem. We received feedback from our students that they had difficulty correlating immunology of various conditions with the clinical and pathologic changes that occur. They had difficulty remembering why ‘basic’ immunology has such a big impact on observed pathologic findings and they didn’t really understand what kind of pathologic changes would be expected, given the observed clinical findings. We identified three disease processes with complex immunopathology and created narrated modules with integrated immunology, histology, and pathology with a clinical application. Each module includes a self-assessment quiz and a clinical vignette to highlight the important steps in the disease process and to illustrate the clinical relevance of the immunology and pathology. The modules were posted on our learning management system and feedback was assessed by an in-class student survey. Survey results indicated that students liked the modules a lot and students thought they helped them understand the big picture of the disease processes.

 

Attendees will be able to:

Millennials now comprise the majority of our student and resident learners as well as early career faculty. It is important for medical school educators to understand the characteristics of this generation and apply this knowledge to educating our future doctors. This session will provide participants with a general overview and a brief summary of research findings on Millennial generation students but also address specific considerations for pathology education and specialty choice, such as:

Attendees will be able to:

At Michigan State University, the allopathic (College of Human Medicine) and osteopathic (College of Osteopathic Medicine) medical schools deliver histology, physiology and pathology instruction during the first and second years of their curricula, with concurrent introduction to the clinical application of this information. Data indicate improved comprehension and retention of biomedical and clinical knowledge when content delivery is integrated. As undergraduate medical education transitions to experiential-based or clinically-oriented curricula, delivery of histology and pathology education may be challenged by this new paradigm. We report the integration of histology, pathology, and clinical educational objectives through the creation of a "Virtual Autopsy" laboratory experience. This session will focus on the creation and delivery of this educational platform and student responses to their "Virtual Autopsy" experience. Future directions for use of this education platform will also be discussed.

 

Pathology content targeted toward preclinical medical students was incorporated into engaging clinical patient vignettes. Gross and microscopic objectives centered around these vignettes were built into four "Virtual Autopsy" laboratory sessions. Biolucida (MBF Bioscience, Williston, Vermont, USA) software was used to deliver the virtual microscopy content. A simple autopsy body diagram acted as the technological portal to organ-based gross and microscopic imagery relevant to the vignette. Histopathological findings, pathophysiology and differential diagnoses were woven into the educational experience. Students worked through the virtual autopsy in groups of 2 to 4, while faculty with expertise in histology and pathology provided appropriate guidance and context. The session culminated in a faculty led class discussion, and the eventual resolution of the cause of death.

 

Medical schools across the country are implementing components of self-directed learning into the curriculum in order to help students develop skills for life-long learning. At the Medical College of Georgia, the First Patient Discoveries Activity was developed to allow first year medical students the opportunity to investigate the life and death of their first patient – their body donor in the gross anatomy lab. This is a yearlong integrative exercise in which anatomy groups practice clinical problem solving by utilizing gross and histological pathology findings to hypothesize their body donor’s cause of death, as well as to investigate how these findings may have impacted their body donor’s quality of life. This process inspires students to search diligently throughout each dissection to identify different pathologies and take biopsies. These biopsies not only help further the narrative the students are forming about their body donor's life, but they help culture a curiosity in the students that they will hopefully carry into their future careers as physicians.

As part of the First Patient Discoveries Activity, when a potential pathology is found, a biopsy is taken by the students. Students complete pathology reports, reporting their findings and hypotheses related to potential differential diagnoses. Once a histological preparation of the biopsy sample is complete, students receive microscopic slides to examine. Students then report their findings and update their hypotheses related to their differential diagnoses. Students also have the opportunity to meet with a pathologist to learn more about their pathological specimens.

 

One of the most relevant demands of the Millennials is the flexibility to study and to organize their time. The combination of new curricular models and the use of technology to make content available online have transformed the way millennials study medicine. Nevertheless procrastination remains a relevant cultural issue, emphasized by the millennial’s multitask characteristics. The USP Med School course “Principles of Disease” make all video recorded lectures and support materials available online using a Moodle-Based Platform and Google Classroom. We aim to identify and evaluate different study styles and profiles of our 1st year medical students and how do they manage their study time during this course.

 

Pathology remains one of the major components of medical school foundational biomedical science curriculum. Due to advances in educational technology, there has been a recent surge of resources available to medical students both to supplement what is taught in the classroom and to provide high-yield review for licensure examinations. The aim of this study is to assess the perceived impact of novel board preparatory resources on COMLEX Level 1 pathology performance.

 

Many first year pathology residents feel under-prepared and overwhelmed during the first year of pathology residency as a result of lack of preparedness from medical school. Many of the rotations in medical school are clinically oriented and do not teach the concepts or skills needed for pathology. A one month capstone rotation in the final year of medical school with practical, residency focus curriculum would help to bridge this gap for prospective residents. Upon completion of the rotation, students will have a portfolio to provide their residency program demonstrating competencies important for a first year resident.

 

The process of gross dissection (or “grossing”) in pathology requires a unique combination of visual-spatial cognition and manual dexterity that may not come naturally to every resident. Yet these vital skills can be learned and improved as the resident gains independence. We have attempted to engage residents in a unique way by offering the chance to design custom grossing tools and guides. We believe this can help residents conceptualize the purpose of grossing, increase their comfort, and potential create new tools that can improve efficiency and safety.

 

All are welcome at this gathering to conclude the meeting. Please note that the cost of dinner is not included in your meeting registration.