[1355] User Experience with the Online Virtual Rotation in Pathology Informatics: Pretest and Posttest Results

HP Kang, JM Hagenkord, FA Monzon, AV Parwani. Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY; University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA; Creighton University, Omaha, NE; The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX

Background: Pathology informatics is increasingly recognized as an important component of pathology training, and efforts are being made to provide informatics training in residency programs and also standardize the scope and objectives of this training. Some of the factors limiting this process are: 1) many programs have limited access to pathology informatics expertise and resources, 2) it is difficult to fit an informatics rotation into an already crowded schedule, and 3) existing informatics training at one institution cannot be easily emulated by other programs due to incompatible rotation structures. We previously presented the 'Virtual Rotation in Pathology Informatics', which was designed with the goal of overcoming these limitations. As an update, we will present our experience with this resource and the usage statistics.
Design: The course includes didactic lectures (captured as audio PowerPoints) given by experts in the field and video-recorded hands-on laboratories. It is supplemented by readings from the textbook 'Practical Pathology Informatics: Demystifying Informatics for the Practicing Anatomic Pathologist' by John Sinard (Springer, 2005). Because it is self-paced, it can accommodate various rotation structures. Module topics and depth of coverage are directed at the level of general practicing pathologist, with quizzes provided for each module. Pre-test and post-test are based on the quizzes. Course progress, as well as completion of the pre-test, post-test, and course survey, can be tracked on the website by an administrator for each institution.
Results: The course is web-based and is hosted and maintained at our institution. There are currently 31 users from 5 institutions, including administrators. The current statistics for trainees are 57.4% correct answers on the pre-test and 81.7 on the post-test for an average increase after the course of 24.3%.
Conclusions: The experience so far with this resource has been positive and it seems to be effective in improving resident competency in pathology informatics and basic computer skills. This free, web-based, self-paced, auto-graded virtual rotation overcomes many of the major limitations pathology residency programs encounter when trying to implement informatics training. It also streamlines much of the record keeping in evaluating the progress and performance of trainees.
Category: Informatics

Wednesday, March 11, 2009 9:30 AM

Poster Session V # 210, Wednesday Morning