Abstract:

Background:
A common misconception is that the modern doctor is not required to know the fine details of histopathology, which may compromise medical students’ incentive to engage. Subsequently, the development of modern histopathological learning resources is required to improve the overall competency in pathology learning by integrating various clinical aspects of medical education. In this study, we aimed to implement a concise clinically integrated histopathology digital worksheet that would ultimately improve student engagement and understanding of pathology of diseases.

Methods:
Study participants in this study included year 1 and 2 medical students undertaking pathology education at Griffith University, Australia. During their pre-clinical years, both cohorts were exposed to a series of pathology worksheets with and without clinical integration. An anonymous 8-question survey with open commentary section was conducted to determine the student perception of the handout with respect to the structure, timing of release, integration of clinical information, usefulness of scanned slides and overall competency. The data from each survey was extracted and transformed into findings by identifying, coding and categorizing by three independent researchers.

Results:
Of 290 students in the post-graduate pre-clinical medical program, 178 students responded to the survey across two years. The majority of students strongly agreed that the integration of clinical information in pathology was useful and relevant to improve understanding about the significance of pathology in medical education. Furthermore, images from the scanned slides (virtual microscopy) were useful in improving tissue identification skills of pathology lesions. All the students either agreed or strongly agreed that this level of knowledge expected was of a reasonable and appropriate standard. Importantly, the task of completing the revised handouts help them to learn, apply and engage in pathology using their self study session. Thematic analysis revealed a positive response to the revised clinically integrated worksheets. Recurring themes also highlighted the need for online access to pathology slides, additional relevant clinical information and higher quality images.

Conclusions:
Integration of clinical medicine through the revised clinical histopathology handout was appraised by a large majority of students implying the need for a multimodal approach in medical education. Conventional histopathology teaching using microscopes, though important, may not be able to deliver the efficiency and quality required for the modern day medical education. Virtual microscopy should be highly considered as a platform to further integrate clinical knowledge whilst delivering high quality and readily accessible resources to students and ultimately facilitating the learning of histopathology in the medical curriculum.

Keywords:

Pathology, clinical integration, handout, practical, microscopy, medical education.