Implementation of a required 3rd-year medical student surgical pathology clinical experience

Abstract

Few medical schools have required experience ​in surgical pathology during the clinical years. After introducing a pilot and preliminary surgical pathology clinical experience into the curriculum, we initiated a required 3rd-year medical student surgical pathology clinical experience that consisted of a one hour introductory lecture; one hour gross room, histology, and immunohistochemistry laboratory introduction; and one hour of one-on-one case sign-out preceptorship with a subspecialty surgical pathologist within the surgery and obstetrics/gynecology block. Concepts that were covered included specimen processing, intraoperative frozen section consultation, completing specimen requisitions, interpreting synoptic reports, and pTNM staging. Students evaluated the surgical pathologist from 1 to 5 (1 “poor/unhelpful,” 2 “marginal,” 3 “neutral,” 4 “good,” 5 “excellent/useful”). Ten multiple-choice questions (included as part of a perioperative services exam) and attendance were incorporated into students’ perioperative services rotation grade. From 2014 to 2018, 757 students participated in the required 3rd-year surgical pathology clinical experience. Thirty academic subspecialty pathologists acted as preceptors with an average of nine sessions per preceptor per year. Evaluation data from 316 students from 2015 to 2018 showed a mean preceptor rating of 4.8/5 (range 4.0–5.0). Students scored an average of 81% on the surgical pathology portion of the exam (range 21–99% for each question). We successfully implemented a required medical student surgical pathology clinical experience. At the clerkship’s conclusion, students demonstrated understanding of key concepts and rated their preceptorship experience highly.