#TwitterHomework During Pathology Electives: Transforming Pathology Pedagogy

Osteopathic physician trainees and pathways to pathology

Currently, there are few osteopathic physician trainees who choose to pursue pathology residencies when compared to allopathic students and international medical graduates. Although the amount of residency positions filled by osteopathic students has increased in recent years, the percentage of osteopathic students choosing pathology has not changed much from 2011 to 2022 (about 0.16% increase), and, in 2022, pathology had the third lowest percentage of filled post-graduate year 1 residency positions by osteopathic applicants when compared to fifteen other major medical specialties. Potential explanations for this disparity may include relatively few total numbers of osteopathic applicants when compared to allopathic and international medical graduate trainees, as well as potential institutional educational limitations (i.e., pathology exposure differences among academic-based versus community-based hospital settings). This review suggests ways pathologists and educational institutions may help improve pathology exposure to osteopathic physician trainees, such as pathology interest groups, post-sophomore fellowships, rotating pathology electives, and through social media (e.g., Twitter). Utilizing these (and other) pathways may help improve osteopathic physician recruitment to pathology during subsequent applicant-residency match cycles.

Challenges and Opportunities in Using Twitter as a Pedagogical Tool in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Education

OBJECTIVES

Even though the benefits of using Twitter for teaching and information exchange within the pathology community are primarily undisputed, a fair number of users refrain from sharing educational content on this social media platform. The survey aims to identify challenges in using Twitter as a pedagogical tool and discuss ways of converting those challenges into opportunities.

METHODS

We performed a cross-sectional survey-based study involving 174 participants from the pathology community on Twitter.

RESULTS

The results demonstrated that procurement of content was the major challenge faced by 36.2% of the participants, with most participants being concerned or very concerned regarding institutional policies and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act issues. Content procurement concerns were followed by social media inertia, stated by 23% of the participants as an obstacle to posting educational content on Twitter.

CONCLUSIONS

The report helps elicit some common obstacles faced by the pathology and laboratory medicine community and allows us to recommend solutions to overcome these obstacles.

Implementation and Effectiveness of a Completely Virtual Pathology Rotation for Visiting Medical Students

Objectives

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) upended in-person medical education, relocating many activities online. We designed a completely virtual pathology rotation to replace our traditional visiting rotation.

Methods

The virtual away rotation was listed in the Visiting Student Application Service (VSAS) and advertised on social media as well as various medical student mailing lists. Nine students were selected to participate in three month-long rotations. The virtual curriculum mirrored our typical in-person clerkship with didactic lectures and daily signout but also included activities exclusive to the virtual rotation such as digitally scanned slide trays and small-group problem-based learning. Anonymous surveys were conducted in which both participants and instructors rated their experiences.

Results

Postrotation feedback was overwhelmingly positive from both participants and instructors. Students considered virtual slide sessions as the most effective teaching tool and did not feel hindered overall by lack of in-person experiences. Volunteer trainee instructors indicated the experience improved their teaching and diagnostic skills and expressed interest in teaching future virtual courses.

Conclusions

The success of the virtual away rotation raises consideration for applications beyond the pandemic era and may provide a more level playing field for medical students from underrepresented groups.