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9th Annual Meeting 
of the 
International Association of Medical Science Educators 

July 14-19, 2005
 

Abstract Category: Methods

Poster ID: M10

INTEGRATING THE TEACHING OF MICROSCOPIC ANATOMY AND PATHOLOGY USING VIRTUAL SLIDES

Rakesh K. Kumar*, MB BS, PhD, Brian Freeman, PhD, Gary M. Velan, MB BS, PhD and Patrick J. De Permentier, MSc. Departments of Pathology and Anatomy, School of Medical Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia 2052.

Virtual slides are high-magnification digital images of tissue sections, stored in a multi-resolution file format, which can be viewed in a web browser in a manner closely simulating examination of sections on glass slides using a conventional microscope. Published reports attest to their value for teaching and learning microscopic Anatomy and Pathology, both in laboratory classes and in self-learning exercises. At UNSW, we have developed a novel approach to using virtual microscopy for the integrated teaching of histology and histopathology in our new 6-year bachelor degree in Medicine, which employs a scenario-based curriculum with no discipline-specific courses. To maximize the use of the limited practical class time available, we designed two-hour classes in which first-year students were introduced to the microscopic features of tissues and organs, and then given the opportunity to compare and contrast the normal with the abnormal in various disease states. We used slides from the University of Iowa Virtual Slideboxes , supplemented by hyperlinked multi-magnification image sets from our own collections. Worksheets defined learning objectives and provided clinical cases as contexts for learning in each class. Academic staff from both Anatomy and Pathology were present as demonstrators. We encouraged collaboration and group work by deliberately requiring pairs of students to share workstations, as well as by setting exercises in which 12–16 students were asked to prepare presentations on their allocated slide, each delivered by a spokesperson nominated by the group. Similar to our experience with the use of virtual slides for teaching Pathology to later-year medical students (Kumar RK et al, J Pathol 2004; 204:613–8) there was ready acceptance of this format by students, who displayed considerable initiative in exploring the histological features of tissues (and independently using other electronic resources that we provided), as well as identifying the changes in various pathological states and recognizing their relationship to clinical manifestations. The efficiency of the teaching method meant that students could work through 5-8 virtual slides per class without any apparent difficulty. We believe that the approach we have developed will help to minimize the potential adverse impact of curriculum reform on the teaching of morphology, while ensuring that learning remains both meaningful and interesting.

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