Improving Medical Students' Understanding of Pediatric Diseases through an Innovative and Tailored Web-based Digital Pathology Program with Philips Pathology Tutor (Formerly PathXL)

Journal of Pathology Informatics
Cathy P ChenJennifer L Picarsic

Abstract

Online "e-modules" integrated into medical education may enhance traditional learning. Medical students use e-modules during clinical rotations, but these often lack histopathology correlates of diseases and minimal time is devoted to pathology teaching. To address this gap, we created pediatric pathology case-based e-modules to complement the clinical pediatric curriculum and enhance students' understanding of pediatric diseases. Philips Tutor is an interactive web-based program in which pediatric pathology e-modules were created with pre-/post-test questions. Each e-module contains a clinical vignette, virtual microscopy, and links to additional resources. Topics were selected based on established learning objectives for pediatric clinical rotations. Pre- and post-tests were administered at the beginning/end of each rotation. Test group had access to the e-modules, but control group did not. Both groups completed the pre/post-tests. Posttest was followed by a feedback survey. Overall, 7% (9/123) in the control group and 8% (13/164) in the test group completed both tests and were included in the analysis. Test group improved their posttest scores by about one point on a 5-point scale (P = 0.01); control group did not (P = 1.00...Continue Reading

Methods Mentioned

BETA
electron microscopy
biopsy

Software Mentioned

PathXL
COMSEP
GraphPad Prism
Tutor
SurveyMonkey
UPMC

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