Presented at the 2000 APIII Conference Return to 2000 Abstract Index
WEB-BASED TECHNOLOGY PATHOLOGY CONFERENCES TO BE MORE INTERESTING AND EDUCATIONAL. EXPERIENCE IN SUNY DOWNSTATE BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
State
University of New York (SUNY) Downstate
Brooklyn, New York
Mansoor M. Nasim MD, PhD
M. M. Nasim M.D.
Ph.D*, G. Levy M.D.**& A. Nelson**
*Resident, **Attending, *** Informatics Manager
Department of Pathology
State University of New York Health Science Center, Downstate
Brooklyn, New York
Background: Web-based learning has become an integral part of teaching. We created a Web page using technology available in any university setting. This gave us the capability to present cases from various hospitals in Brooklyn to residents and attendings for critical review.
Design: We used a computer and image capture hardware (camera and scanner) to create a web page that took less then two hours. The equipment used was a pixera ES-120 camera to capture microscopic images, Hewlett Packard 4C scanner to scan 35 mm slides, a standard Personnel computer (400 Mhz, 1 GB Memory, 64 MB Random Access Memory, CD-RW, Software Windows 98 or NT 4.0, and Microsoft PowerPoint) connected via internal network to the University web site (somc.hscbklyn.edu). We captured either the microscope photograph with a digital camera or scanned the 35-mm slide (previously taken from a normal microscope camera) and saved the image in the JPEG format. The advantage of this format being that it offers high resolution while the file size remains small. The photographs were then incorporated into the presentation software PowerPoint. The presentation was then exported as HTML (hypertext markup language) and placed on a web server (somc.hscbklyn.edu) so that it could be viewed via the Internet. The CD-RW allowed us to keep large amounts of data on CD-ROM and was useful to transfer data and pictures from the scanner to the computer’s hard drive.
Results: This technology has improved our capability to show interesting cases to a much wider audience. We have maintained patient confidentiality. The case reviews have been educational to our Medical students, Residents and Attending. The feed back received from a variety of sources including house staff and attendings has been very positive. The answers to the current conference case material are held back so that the attendee can evaluate his/her answers during the conference. The discussion that follows with conference is also very beneficial as many of the attendees have a different point of view and have looked up articles in the Internet relevant to the case. After the presentation, the case discussion with references are placed on the web. This facilitates a more comprehensive learning experience.
Conclusion: In Brooklyn in the mid 1900’s, a pathologist started the tradition of these conferences called the "Silik H. Polayes, slide of the month club" so that pathologists working in Brooklyn, New York City could come together and discuss their cases once a month. These conferences have continued since their first inception. We have honored this tradition and used technology to incorporate our knowledge into the digital age so that this information could be stored faithfully and indefinitely for future generations of pathologists. We were able to incorporate the tools we had in hand and with persistence were able to create this web site in a very short time. We plan in the future to keep updating the conference material in the format of a library and use software that could do organ or disease related searches for future reference.
