Teaching Laboratory Management Principles and Practices Through Mentorship and Graduated Responsibility: The Assistant Medical Directorship

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.

Pathology Residency Curricula

OBJECTIVES

To perform a systematic review of the published literature on pathology graduate medical education, with a focus on novel educational curricula.

METHODS

We systematically searched the PubMed and Embase databases for relevant articles published between 2000 and 2021.

RESULTS

We analyzed 612 articles and selected 19 peer-reviewed, full-length, English language articles published between 2003 and 2021 describing unique curricula for final review. Details on the general characteristics, conceptualization, design, implementation, and assessment were collected and discussed.

CONCLUSIONS

This systematic review highlights a recent increase in published curricular endeavors specifically addressing topics of educational need that are otherwise not commonly taught in traditional residency training. Curricula are diverse in their teaching methods, implementation, and originating institutions. The lack of meaningful evaluated outcomes and available curricular materials may hinder wider use of such curricula; these should be considered by future pathology educators undertaking their design.

Evidence-Based Alignment of Pathology Residency With Practice II: Findings and Implications

This article presents findings from a 4-year series of surveys of new-in-practice pathologists, and a survey of physician employers of new pathologists, assessing how pathology graduate medical education prepares its graduates for practice. Using the methodology described in our previous study, we develop evidence for the importance of residency training for various practice areas, comparing findings over different practice settings, sizes, and lengths of time in practice. The principal findings are (1) while new-in-practice pathologists and their employers report residency generally prepared them well for practice, some areas—billing and coding, laboratory management, molecular pathology, and pathology informatics—consistently were identified as being important in practice but inadequately prepared for in residency; (2) other areas—autopsy pathology, and subspecialized apheresis and blood donor center blood banking services—consistently were identified as relatively unimportant in practice and excessively prepared for in residency; (3) the notion of a single comprehensive model for categorical training in residency is challenged by the disparity between broad general practice in some settings and narrower subspecialty practice in others; and (4) the need for preparation in some areas evolves during practice, raising questions about the appropriate mode and circumstance for training in these areas. The implications of these findings range from rebalancing the emphasis among practice areas in residency, to reconsidering the structure of graduate medical education in pathology to meet present and evolving future practice needs.

Informatics Training for Pathology Practice and Research in the Digital Era

Pathology informatics is a relatively new field with limited structured training programs for pathologists, especially for computer programming. Here, we describe our efforts to develop and implement a training program in the department of pathology at the University of Florida to meet these additional needs of current students as well as faculty and staff. Three one-credit courses were created using a flipped classroom design. Each course was assessed with a novel survey instrument, and the impact of the program was further measured 6 months after program completion with interviews of 6 participants and thematic analysis. Course objectives were met but with room for improvement. Major factors that had a positive impact included collaborative learning and real-world practice problems. Also, it improved communication with informatics colleagues as well as job task efficiency and effectiveness. Overall, the program raised awareness of informatics professional development and career path opportunities within pathology.