[501] What Are the Pathology Education Requirements for All Clinical ACGME Accredited Programs in an Academic Center?
SM Bean, A Nagler, PJ Buckley. Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
Background: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education(ACGME) recognizes that knowledge of pathology is integral to the practice of medicine and mandates pathology education for many accredited programs. At academic centers, the pathology department commonly provides this required education for clinical trainees. This study determines the institution-wide pathology education GME requirements (exclusive of pathology residency and fellowships) in an academic center.
Design: Key word searches for 
pathology,
laboratory, autopsy, and morbidity were performed on all clinical Residency Review Committees (RRC) program requirements documents. A determination was made as to whether a pathology education requirement was identified for each search occurrence. Requirements were categorized.
Results: ACGME lists 102 clinical programs; 74 exist at Duke. Fifty-six (76%) programs had requirements.
| Pathology Education Requirements | Number(%) |
|---|---|
| Consultation/Support | 29(40%) |
| Teaching/Conferences | 37(50%) |
| Clinico-pathological correlation | 4(5%) |
| Required rotation | 1(1%) |
| Elective rotation | 7(9%) |
| Clinical resources | 3(4%) |
| Gross/Micro examination | 16(22%) |
 Residents assigned to the department of pathology | 1(1%) |
| Shared experiences with pathology residents | 1(1%) |
| Obtain copies of autopsy reports | 11(15%) |
| Other | 15(20%) |
Teaching/conferences (didactic, morbidity/mortality, tumor board, grand rounds, and multidisciplinary) were the most common requirement. Sixteen programs must perform gross/microscopic examination; ophthalmology requires 36 hours. Medical genetics trainees have a required pathology rotation. Elective rotations should be available for neuromuscular disease, child neurology, general surgery, neurological surgery, otolaryngology, and radiation oncology. Others included: collaborations with pathologists(11;15%),
access to microbiology laboratory(1; 1%), and structured experiences in blood banking and tissue banking(1;1%).Conclusions: Pathology departments at academic centers are faced with significant institution-wide pathology education requirements for clinical ACGME programs. Studies are ongoing to determine the hours required to fulfill these mandates (estimated at Duke as 4,500 + hours) and to develop innovative educational tools to satisfy the requirements and make efficient use of pathology teaching faculty.
Category: Education
Wednesday, March 11, 2009 1:00 PM
Poster Session VI # 78, Wednesday Afternoon