Instruction in hematologic morphology has traditionally relied on review of microscopic slides with assistance from an instructor or an atlas. However, this process is time consuming and is increasingly unsuitable in the current teaching environment. As a result, many programs have eliminated the use of the microscope from Pathology courses for medical students. Faced with this situation, we developed an interactive hematopathology case study module involving blood smear evaluation with a "virtual" microscope. This allows students to evaluate a large portion of a glass slide rather than one or two static images and, therefore, is similar to actually using a microscope. The Web-based module allows students to learn at their own pace and to utilize their time more efficiently.

The module is designed based on the database-driven web page concept using FileMaker Pro to create the database and CDML/JavaScript/HTML to develop the Web page output. Actual patient cases of hematologic disorders are utilized in this module. Case material includes study sets of glass slides previously used for the microscopic laboratories. Digitized composite images at low-power and individual high-power images are acquired from glass slides by video microscopy and modified in PhotoShop. An introductory overview page shows commonly found leukocytes in thumbnail format, which when clicked display pop-up magnified versions with explanatory comments. A composite low-power image of normal blood film is displayed next to demonstrate the sparse distribution of leukocytes. For each case, the clinical history is displayed along with a large low-power blood film for students to scan for abnormal leukocytes, which when clicked displays cells in high-power. To emphasize the important morphologic features, selected images with click-to-show explanatory comments are presented separately to aid cell type identification. A list of questions with answers is provided that guides the students to the final correct diagnosis. The diagnosis is then linked to PubMed for instant retrieval of recent relevant articles from the medical literature.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

Session attendees will learn from this presentation:

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/

CO-AUTHORS:
Sharad Mathur, M.D.
Robert Hutchison, M.D.
Department of Pathology
State University of New York
Upstate Medical University
750 E Adams Street
Syracuse, NY 13210
Phone: 315-464-7123
Fax: 315-464-7130
Email: hutchisr@upstate.edu
mathurs@upstate.edu