Residency Training in Pathology Informatics: A Virtual Rotation Solution
Jill Hagenkord ; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Federico A. Monzon MD; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; Anil Parwani MD; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center; S. Joseph Sirintrapun MD; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center;
Content:
Pathology informatics is increasingly recognized as an important component of pathology training, and efforts are made to provide informatics training in residency programs and standardize the scope and objectives of this training. Traditionally, barriers to quality informatics training include: 1) limited access for many programs to pathology informatics expertise, 2) variable quality of education due to different levels of institutional informatics resources, and 3) difficulty in slotting informatics rotations in crowded resident rotation schedules. We have developed a web-based course based on the resident informatics rotation at our institution which helps circumvent these barriers.
Technology:
The website and its software is developed, hosted and maintained at our institute. Lectures are captured as audio PowerPoint files and laboratories, when feasible, are video recorded. The results are tracked electronically by the program and monitered by an administrative assistant.
Design:
Study participants (n=10) include 2nd and third year residents and fellows in pathology informatics at our institution. The course includes didactics given by informatics experts and hands-on laboratories. The course is self-paced and accommodates various busy rotation schedules. The basic areas of informatics are separated into modules; the topics and depth of which are directed at the level of the general practicing pathologist. Each module has lectures which are supplemented by readings from the textbook Practical Pathology Informatics: Demystifying Informatics for the Practicing Anatomic Pathologist by John Sinard (Springer, 2005). Study participants read the text, view the multimedia didactics and labs, meet with a local coordinator to perform module-specific exercises, and complete corresponding online quizzes. Course progress is evaluated upon completion of quizzes, pre-test, post-test, and course survey.
Results:
At our institution, residents and fellows scored an average of 54% (n=10) of correct answers on the pre-test and 81% (n=7) on the post-test for an average increase after the course of 27%.
Conclusion:
The structured course format and extensive experience in pathology informatics at our institution has been effective in improving resident competency in pathology informatics and basic computer skills. Development of this free, web-based, expert-taught, self-paced, auto-graded virtual rotation in pathology informatics overcomes many major limitations pathology residency programs encounter when trying to implement informatics training.
