Clinical Pathology

Purpose

It is the sole purpose and ultimate goal of the Clinical Pathology Residency Program, Clinical Laboratories and Director of Clinical Pathology to provide structured educational rotations through all clinical departments in an effort to expose each resident to adequate knowledge in order to successfully achieve board certification in Clinical Pathology and safely function as a resource clinician in the practice of Pathology.

Plan

To successfully achieve this ultimate goal, it is imperative that each resident spend six months of each required residency year in Clinical Pathology. The Clinical Pathology rotations can be no less than 1-month blocks, but optimally will be two- or three-month blocks. During this time, the Program Director will assign the specific rotations to the residents based on the prior completed clinical rotations, the academic status of the resident and the basic fundamental knowledge of the resident. It is also imperative that, during the Clinical Pathology rotations, the residents will be responsible only for Clinical Pathology, relieving all anatomic pathology commitments during that time, with the exception of assigned conferences. The reverse, of course, will be upheld. During the Clinical Pathology rotations, the resident will take both Clinical Pathology and Anatomic Pathology call. This combination should not compromise the ability of the resident to respond in a timely fashion to Clinical Pathology calls as most of them are not emergencies. If there is a time when the Pathology Resident is faced with a Clinical and an Anatomic emergency call, the Clinical Pathologist on call will be notified and will respond immediately. The Clinical Pathology residents will answer directly to the individual laboratory directors with ultimate responsibility to the Director of Clinical Pathology.

Each clinical laboratory rotation will begin with orientation to the particular laboratory and explanation of objectives by the Director of the respective laboratory or the Director of Clinical Pathology. It must be understood by the residents that clinical pathology is a science that is learned, in part, by spending a finite amount of time on the bench with a Medical Technologist. This is not intended to suffice in the absence of the laboratory director and will not replace direct one-to-one interaction with the laboratory director or Director of Clinical Pathology. During each rotation, the resident is expected to attend clinical rounds (once/week) with the clinical department associated with the specific laboratory, ie: Hematology/Hematopathology with Hematology/Oncology; Microbiology with Infectious Disease; Chemistry with Medicine; Blood Bank with Trauma; Immunology with Hematology/Oncology, when time permits. The Director of Clinical Pathology will meet at least one time per week for one hour with all clinical pathology residents. This meeting will be informal and it is intended that the residents discuss interesting cases and/or problems encountered. Each Clinical Pathology resident is expected to choose a topic of interest pertinent to the current rotation and present a 30 to 45 minute talk to the technologists in that respective laboratory. The purpose of this is to acquaint the resident with speaking to a group as well as to improve the resident’s understanding of the topic. The topic should be approved by the Director of Clinical Pathology prior to preparation for presentation. Finally, one publication (Case of the month is acceptable) per rotation will be produced by the resident.

Testing is not performed for each rotation; however a quarterly exam is given by the Clinical Pathologists to all of the Pathology Residents. The purpose of this quarterly exam is to help the residents determine their need for extended study. The Clinical Pathologists will use the results of the exams to determine what topics should be presented and the Clinical Pathology Program weaknesses.

On-call duties for Clinical Pathology residents are described in detail in the On-Call Manual and will be reviewed in orientation by the Director of Clinical Pathology. Each time a resident is called, a report in consultation form will be written and the information added to the consult sheet for future reference when the resident applies to sit for Pathology Boards. Additionally, whenever the Clinical Pathology resident interacts professionally and consultatively with a clinician, a report in consultation form will be completed for the same purpose. These forms are maintained by the residents for future requirements, ie: ABP Exams, Hospital credentialing, State licensure credentialing.

These are the general requirements of all Clinical Pathology rotations. Following is a succinct description of each laboratory rotation. These requirements are to be followed and any deviation without prior consent of the Director of Clinical Pathology may result in an unsatisfactory grade for the rotation.