Medical Education
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Pathology Electives for MS3 & MS4 (Current)
PATH 4370 Core Yr (MS3) Pathology Elective
Two-Week Pathology Elective for Third Year Medical Students
Overview
The goal of this elective is to expose medical students to the everyday practice of
pathology in an academic medical center. Pathologists practice in a wide variety of
disciplines or subspecialties in diverse settings. Students will have the opportunity
to spend time at University Hospital at Downstate with pathology attendings and residents
working in a number of these areas, e.g., surgical pathology, cytopathology, transfusion
medicine, chemical pathology, autopsy pathology, hematopathology, molecular pathology,
and neuropathology. Students may observe routine microscopic sign-outs of surgical
pathology cases, gross examination and sectioning of surgical specimens, sign-out
of cytopathology slides or fine needle aspirations, autopsy cases; attend and participate
in brain cutting with neuropathologists; observe and discuss appropriate distribution
of blood products with transfusion medicine pathologists; discuss laboratory management
and chemical pathology with clinical pathologists; and attend case presentations,
unknown case conferences, journal clubs, tumor boards, and other conferences. Students
are required to keep a daily log briefly summarizing their activities during these
two weeks. At the conclusion of the two-week period, this log should be returned to
Nyeisha Bruno along with a one-page essay describing an interesting diagnostic case
or laboratory problem you encountered during the elective (see requirements below).
Course Objectives:
At the conclusion of this elective the student should be able to:
- Describe the varied training pathways for a career in Anatomic and / or Clinical Pathology and/or subspecialties of pathology, e.g. neuropathology, forensic pathology, etc.
- Explain the importance of clinical information in the evaluation of specimens in Surgical Pathology, in planning an autopsy, and for appropriate distribution of blood products in Transfusion Medicine. Give an example of how clinical information is important for handling of a specimen and for diagnosis.
- Describe the role of the pathologist in patient care. Observe procedures such as fine needle aspiration, frozen section, bone marrow analysis, grossing and signout of surgical specimens, signout of cytology specimens, autopsy, brain cutting, etc.
- Describe the varied roles of Clinical Pathology laboratories (Transfusion Medicine, Chemistry, Hematology, Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Pathology) in patient care.
- Demonstrate knowledge of basic gross and histopathology appropriate for level of third year medical student.
Interpret several common laboratory tests. Describe a factor which may impact laboratory
results.
Requirements: Your main responsibility is to introduce yourself to each attending and resident
with whom you are interacting, observe carefully and read around your cases. Don鈥檛
hesitate to ask questions of attendings and residents! Students should demonstrate
professionalism in their interactions with attending pathologists, residents, and
technical and support staff. Students are required to attend all departmental resident
conferences.
You should ensure that your various activities meet the learning objectives for the elective. Students are required to keep a daily log briefly summarizing their activities during the elective. At the end of the two weeks, we ask that you write a one page essay discussing one interesting case, diagnostic problem, or laboratory issue you encountered during this elective. This could be about, for example, an interesting tumor case in surgical pathology, a transfusion reaction or some other blood bank problem, a fine needle aspiration or autopsy you attended, an interesting protein electrophoresis result, etc. It is not necessary to focus on rare conditions; common cases or situations, if interesting to you, are fine.
Assessment: Students will be assessed by the course director based on the demonstration of achieving the learning objectives based on the information provided in the daily log and in the one page essay. Students will also be assessed by their supervising attendings based on their attendance, professional behavior, interactions with the healthcare team, self-directed learning, and satisfactory completion of all requirements of the elective. It is expected that the attending will seek input into the assessment from the residents or fellows on the service. It should be emphasized that the students are in the early stages of their training; they should not be held to unrealistic standards of knowledge or clinical proficiency that might be expected of residents or of medical students further along in their training.
Department: Pathology
Course Director: Jenny Libien, MD, PhD
Contact Person: Nyeisha Bruno, BSB 4-5
Email: Nyeisha.Bruno@downstate.edu
Telephone: 718-270-4599
Fax: 718-270-3313
Course Location: University Hospital at Downstate
Course Timing: Offered September through May
Session Duration: Two weeks
Hours per day: 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday through Friday