Academic Pathology最新文献

In medical education, pathology has traditionally been concentrated in only the preclinical years, often without sufficient emphasis on its practical application in clinical practice. Correspondingly, medical students' interest in pathology as a career has been low. To address this issue and foster a deeper understanding of pathology's clinical relevance and encourage appropriate utilization, we introduced a required exposure to pathology in the surgery clerkship featuring clinicopathological case review in a small group setting. Unlike other approaches, we wanted to create a program that concentrates on pathology cases directly linked to patients whom students cared for during their clerkship rotation, emphasizing the relevance of pathology diagnosis. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from participating students, who report an increased awareness of pathology's importance in patient management and of the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration between pathologists and clinicians. A notable feature of this program is its relatively low time and personnel requirements, which facilitate inclusion in the busy clerkship and acceptance in the Department of Pathology. Challenges, such as timely case selection and administrative co-ordination, are being addressed to optimize the program's implementation. In the future, we are considering expanding this model to other clerkships. By rekindling interest in pathology through practical engagement and highlighting its real-world relevance, this approach offers a promising strategy to counteract recruitment challenges in this crucial medical field.

Boot camps in medical education have emerged as effective tools for addressing knowledge gaps and facilitating the integration of incoming residents into clinical training. We developed a pathology boot camp designed on a needs assessment survey, the graduated release of responsibility model, and active involvement of senior residents as educators. A comprehensive survey was administered to current first-year residents to assess educational needs to identify significant knowledge gaps and difficult areas. Based on these findings, a four-week, three-phase curriculum was developed, comprising introductory didactics, hands-on training, and mentorship under senior residents. Pre- and post-tests, as well as resident surveys, were used to evaluate the efficacy of the boot camp curriculum. Senior residents unanimously expressed the need for a boot camp, expressing challenges in histology, workflow, autopsy, and laboratory operations. Pre- and post-boot camp assessment tests showed a 15% knowledge improvement. Most pathology programs across the country have implemented structured pathology boot camps. The strengths of our boot camp included the emphasis on the previous year's residents' feedback, and the challenges that they encountered, serving as a comparison group; a graduated release of responsibility model; and the involvement of senior residents as designated mentors for the duration of the boot camp. The pathology boot camp presented here serves as a promising model for addressing foundational knowledge deficits among incoming residents. By tailoring the curriculum to meet specific educational needs and leveraging senior residents as educators, institutions can better prepare residents for the challenges of clinical training.

Electronic medical records (EMRs) allow for the creation of “fictional” and unknown patients within the EMR production environment. Surprisingly, there is sparse literature regarding the use cases for these patients or the challenges associated with their existence in the EMR. Here, we identified three classes of patients in regular use at our institution: true fictional patients with medical record numbers (MRNs) used to test EMR functions in the production environment, “confidential patients” used to store sensitive data, and “unknown” patients that are assigned temporary MRNs in emergency situations until additional information can be acquired. A further layer of complexity involving the merging of records for unknown patients once they are identified is also explored. Each class of patients, real or fictional, poses a variety of challenges from a clinical laboratory standpoint, which are often dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Here, we present a series of instructional cases adapted from actual patient safety events at our institution involving fictional, confidential, and unknown patient records. These illustrative cases highlight the utility of these fictional and unknown patients, as well as the challenges they pose on an institutional and individual level, including issues that arise from merging clinical data from temporary MRNs to identified patient charts. Lastly, we provide recommendations on how best to manage similar scenarios that may arise.