Abstract
Context: The COVID-19 pandemic led to shutting of education faculties, including clinical clerkships for medical students.
Objective: To review a selective for a course in diagnostic pathology geared toward undergraduate medical students, including its design, technical implementation, instructor and student evaluations, and suggestions for options for further adjusting and optimizing the selective.
Design: Whole slide images (WSI) were anonymized and students were given remote access to university computers, which were prepared with two freely available WSI viewers. Each topic was taught in a four-part module: Self-assigned reading, lecture via Zoom, quiz based on digital slide sets, and a frontal review of the slides via Zoom. Fifty-nine students participated in the selective. Following the course, students completed an anonymous questionnaire.
Results: Of the 59 participants, 42% (n = 25) responded. None of the respondents had any previous instruction in diagnostic pathology. Overall, the course was rated very favorably: 68% (n = 17) gave at least 3 points on a 4-point scale on questions relating to course interest, improvement in understanding of the covered diseases, and how strongly they would recommend a student take this course if given an option. The most significant disadvantage of the class, as reported by 80% (n = 20) were technical challenges in accessing the slides.
Conclusion: We believe the course was a success and can be a model for future virtual pathology electives. Great effort should be done to provide technical support to the students. The selective demonstrated value for students and provided much-needed exposure to diagnostic pathology in clinical practice.
Keywords: COVID-19; Digital pathology; Distance learning; Kern’s 6-step approach; Undergraduate education; Zoom.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, digital pathology, Distance learning, Kern's 6-step approach, Undergraduate education, Zoom., 【초록키워드】 pathology, Diseases, COVID-19 pandemic, diagnostic, implementation, Digital, questionnaire, Clinical practice, exposure to, student evaluations, Support, Topic, Participants, distance, effort, option, class, selective, Course, reported, provided, question, were given, demonstrated, participated, 【제목키워드】 pathology, remote, crisis,