The combined anatomic pathology/clinical pathology (AP/CP) "core" curriculum consists of 108 weeks of AP, 76 weeks of CP, and 24 weeks of additional AP/CP electives.
The department handles a large volume of surgical specimens, with approximately 70,000 accessioned per year. Because of the specialized nature of the cancer center and high volume of specimens, the department utilizes subspecialty sign out; residents are exposed to a wide variety of common and rare specimens. Glass slide exposure is emphasized during the surgical pathology rotations, which is supplemented by selected grossing of complex specimens. The residents rotate on a five day cycle within their 4-week AP subspecialty (two days of biopsies signout and "regs" previewing, two days of "regs" signout and grossing of one specimen, and one day of all-day grossing). Specimens are assigned based on level of experience and increasing degrees of difficulty, and there is an experienced group of pathology assistants and technicians available for answering questions and teaching. Computer workstations with guidelines and dictation templates are available for all standard specimens at each of the grossing stations. Medical related autopsies are performed on site at our Regional Autopsy Center in addition to a one month rotation at the Franklin County Medical Examiner’s Office during third year for exposure to forensic pathology. Residents also rotate through the busy cytopathology division where there is an opportunity to perform fine-needle aspiration procedures on patients. A teaching collection of glass slides with examples of classic and rare entities are available for the residents. There are also numerous digital slides and study sets available from the personal collections of various faculty members, as well as a growing in-house collection of cases scanned at our new Digital Pathology Scan Center.
During the clinical pathology rotations, residents are exposed to various laboratory testing methods, laboratory management techniques, and many other aspects of clinical pathology. Dedicated clinical pathology rotations include chemistry/toxicology, microbiology, cytogenetics, molecular pathology, transfusion medicine/apheresis, flow cytometry, coagulation and hematopathology. During these rotations, time is split between experience in the laboratory, one-on-one didactic sessions, clinical conferences, departmental meetings and self-directed reading and learning modules. The hematopathology rotation offers the opportunity for residents to get comfortable with a variety of fluid specimens, along with working up complex tissue and bone marrow cases and reviewing consultation cases from outside institutions. During the transfusion medicine rotation, residents serve as a focal point for triaging clinical questions and issues that arise in the blood bank, and are also given the opportunity to participate in the management of patients on the apheresis unit. Additionally, blood donor experience is provided at the American Red Cross Central Ohio Blood Service, located in Columbus.
Conferences are held from 8:00-9:00 AM daily, with an average of two anatomic pathology conferences and two clinical pathology conferences per week, with an unknowns or informatics conference held on Fridays. The conferences include didactic sessions, unknown slide conferences and journal clubs. Also, there is a dedicated biannual informatics lecture series. Interdisciplinary conferences are held in various disciplines throughout the week in the areas of dermatopathology, gynecologic pathology, bone and soft tissue pathology, head & neck pathology, gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary pathology, breast pathology, medical kidney and transplant pathology, hematopathology, and neuropathology. Additionally a general interesting case conference is held biweekly for faculty and residents to share interesting cases with the department from their sub-specialties.