The Internet is now universally accepted as the unsurpassed medium for information transfer, and numerous Web sites have been developed by institutions offering pathology residency training programs. These Web sites aim at providing information to potential residency program applicants on program goals and objectives, types of rotations, and eligibility. They serve to facilitate the residency program application process and streamline the ultimate goal of residency recruitment. However, little is done to provide resources for the on-going and long-term functioning of the residency-training program itself.

SUNY Upstate Medical University (UMU), recently developed a dynamic Pathology Residency training Web site that calls for interactive participation of the pathology faculty members responsible in teaching/training residents and the pathology residents currently within the training program. The central focus is a FileMaker Pro (FMP) database that accepts faculty members' lecture and conference materials, presentation materials from the journal club, and indexed gross and microscopic digital images collected within the department. These materials are accessible on the Web site to the residents at all times. Online graded quizzes and questionnaires with explanatory answers are also available for self-testing after review.

The Pathology Residency Program Director periodically reviews residents' training progress and annually prepares for credentialing requirements as dictated by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). Documentation of patient cases that residents sign off with clinical faculty at each rotation is recorded in our Laboratory Information System (LIS). We downloaded these records to a decentralized FMP database, and developed Web pages to enable ready tabulation of selected residents' rotation experiences pertaining to specific cases/organs, and retrieval of interesting cases worthy of further review/teaching. Connectivity to LIS also allows setup of prompt evaluation and assessment of a resident by clinical faculty each time a case is signed off.

This Web site also provides residents ready access to the electronic residency program manual, schedules of daily/weekly departmental and SUNY UMU conferences, and professional organizations and upcoming national meetings.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

Session attendees will learn from this presentation:

Schuyler Sanderson, M.D.
Department of Pathology
State University of New York
Upstate Medical University
750 E Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 13210
Phone: 315-474-7123
Fax: 315-474-7130
Email: sanderss@upstate.edu

CO-AUTHORS:
Lisa Glowacki
Jannie Woo, Ph.D.
Department of Pathology
State University of New York
Upstate Medical University
750 E Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 13210
Phone: 315-464-6717
Fax: 315-464-7130
Email: wooj@upstate.edu
Website: www.upstate.edu/pathology/
www.ec.upstate.edu/path/