Are you ready to play Pathology Pyramid? An exploration of an alternative method of learning through gaming in pathology resident education

Asking the PRIME questions for grossing: Teaching a framework for grossing and constructing gross descriptions using the PRIME model

Grossing is essential to the practice of anatomic pathology. The importance of this skill cannot be understated, but it simultaneously can be enigmatic for novice pathology residents. Successful grossing asks questions to yield the most accurate answers which facilitate a complete report and diagnosis for patient care. To provide a unified framework of approach to grossing specimens, we devised the PRIME (P = process/picture, R = relationships, I = internal, M = margins, E = external) model for grossing. The PRIME model was introduced to anatomic pathology trainees (n = 21) at two academic hospitals through an interactive workshop featuring multiple exercises: (1) scoring provided inadequate gross descriptions of common, familiar objects (fruit) for content quality before and after introduction of the PRIME model, (2) building a gross description as a group with a representative fruit specimen using PRIME, (3) videos of grossing specimens which the participants used to practice constructing their own gross description using PRIME, and (4) analysis of an example surgical specimen's gross description using PRIME. Pre- and post-workshop questionnaires assessed the trainees' experience with grossing before residency, their confidence to write a gross description, and their opinions of the PRIME model. The assessment of fruit gross descriptions before and after the introduction of PRIME was significant (p < 0.05), as well as the participants' confidence level to write an accurate gross description using PRIME. The PRIME model and workshop help to fill a void in pathology education and erode perceived barriers to confident grossing by providing a framework of the key concepts behind grossing specimens, no matter the complexity.

Graduate Medical Education in Pathology: A Scoping Review

CONTEXT.—

Pathologists have produced a substantial body of literature on graduate medical education (GME). However, this body of literature is diverse and has not yet been characterized.

OBJECTIVE.—

To chart the concepts, research methods, and publication patterns of studies on GME in pathology.

DATA SOURCES.—

This was a systematic scoping review covering all literature produced since 1980 in the PubMed and Embase databases.

CONCLUSIONS.—

Research on GME in pathology is evenly dispersed across educational topics. This body of literature would benefit from research based on theory, stronger study designs, and studies that can provide evidence to support decisions on educational policies.

Maintaining informatics training learning outcomes with a COVID-19 era shift to a fully online flipped course

The emergence of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic forced us to adapt our recently developed informatics training serving a variety of students as well as faculty and staff. The successful flipped classroom course series (a hybrid-format with both asynchronous online learning and in-person synchronous components) was shifted to a fully online format with the synchronous portion now held via web-based video conference. We repeated our participant survey at the end of each of the 3 one-credit courses to compare student satisfaction and learning outcomes achievement to the original offering. The responses were overall very positive again and while there were no differences in satisfaction levels for 2 of the courses, overall satisfaction was higher for the new, fully online Python Programming course. Likewise, students reported similar achievement of the learning outcomes across all courses with 1 of the 12 objectives receiving higher competency agreement in the new, fully online version. Overall, the fully online version of the course series was equally successful, if not more so, than the original version with a physical classroom session each week. Given that participants also had strong agreement with a new question that they would prefer online class meetings instead of in a classroom, even if there wasn’t a global pandemic (citing a variety of logistical reasons such as “convenience of screen sharing,” parking issues, and job-related time constraints), the fully online version of the informatics training will be retained.