Assessment of Pathology Learning Modules With Virtual Microscopy in a Preclinical Medical School Curriculum

Abstract

Objectives To evaluate the ability of pathology modules to promote learning of pathology-related course content in a preclinical medical education curriculum. Methods Pathology modules were created for the “Hematology/Oncology” and “Women’s Health” (WH) courses. Students were recruited over 2 consecutive academic years; cohorts 1 and 2 refer to 2 separate groups of students in years 1 and 2, respectively, of the study. Course performance data were collected. Results Use of pathology modules resulted in a statistically significant higher correlation between performance on the final examination and pathology-related questions in the Hematology/Oncology course and written examination and pathology-related questions in cohort 1 in the WH course. There was statistically significant improvement (P = .026) on pathology-related laboratory practical examination questions in the WH course for cohort 1, and no other statistically significant improvement for the other cohorts and examinations. The percentage of students completing all or part of the modules was highest in the WH course for cohort 1 (60%) compared with WH course cohort 2 (33%) and Hematology/Oncology cohort 1 (30%) and cohort 2 (39%). Conclusions Pathology modules may improve acquisition and retention of pathology-related course content when used appropriately.

Virtual Versus Light Microscopy Usage among Students: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analytic Evidence in Medical Education

“…Results from various studies revealed significantly improved academic test scores [20,31,32,[36][37][38]46,48,50,52,53,58,62,63] along with improvements in the medical knowledge of students [22,34,38,[44][45][46]48,55,58,61,63,64,67].…”

“…Improved student and faculty rapport [33,34,42,45,51,52,56,60] as well as better cooperation and participation amongst students was another interesting finding [20,[31][32][33][34]36,43,52,57,60,61,66,67].…”

“…A subgroup analysis on studies of low risk or bias compared to higher risk of bias was also performed based on the results of the NOS scale (Figure 5). [20,[31][32][33]35,44,45,50,52,57,59,60,63,64].…”

“…The result showed a clear significance for the "good" subgroup (SMD: 1.01 [95% CI: 0.52, 1.50], p < 0.001) as well as the "fair" subgroup (SMD: 1.39 [95% CI: 0.79, 1.99], p < 0.001). The result was not significant for the "poor" rated studies (SMD: [20,[31][32][33][34][35][37][38][39]44,45,50,52,[57][58][59][60]63,64].…”

Virtual Microscopy Tagging and Its Benefits for Students, Faculty, and Interprofessional Programs Alike

“…USF Health incorporates multiple programs (College of Medicine, Physician Assistant Program, Anatomy Masters Program), all of which use the same online histology slide viewer for normal histological education. An updated website user interface with additional instructional features will not only increase the ease of accessibility to and within the site but also improve the overall quality and efficiency of their learning [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. Furthermore, the updated virtual microscopy viewer can smoothly integrate into the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM)…”