Pathology Elective

Description of Elective

Up to two UMKC School of Medicine and/or Kansas City University medical students rotate in the department per month.

This four-week-long, five credit hour elective exposes fourth year medical students to the fields of anatomic and clinical pathology, including surgical pathology, cytopathology, hematopathology and laboratory medicine.

Anatomic pathology rotation (two weeks) 

Responsibilities include participation in gross prosections, frozen section evaluations, microscopic evaluation of surgical and cytopathology specimens and differential diagnostic considerations and possible performance of autopsies (based on availability). Students are supervised by pathology residents and faculty on service.

Hematopathology rotation (one week)

During this rotation, students will develop the skills needed to interpret and formulate a differential diagnosis of the more commonly occurring disorders seen in peripheral blood and bone marrow. Students will review the slides with the resident rotating in the hematopathology service. During sign out with the attending faculty and resident, the student will have the opportunity to present their brief case histories and summarize available laboratory data. Morphologic evaluation and case interpretation will take place during sign out.

Laboratory Medicine rotation (one week)

During this period, students will rotate through hematology, blood bank, clinical chemistry and microbiology services. Students are supervised daily by pathology residents and clinical faculty on service.

Program Expectations

All scheduled morning conferences begin at 8:00 a.m., with the exception of CMH conferences, which start at 9-9:30 a.m.

All students are expected to make a presentation during the last week of rotation on a subject of their choice, which is related to pathology (i.e. an interesting case or a pathology topic of interest to you). The clerkship director and resident staff are available for advice and assistance.

Faculty and resident staff will evaluate students during their rotation based on attendance at sign out, conferences and the final presentation. Students will be given an opportunity to evaluate their experience in pathology during their clerkship.

Please email Petra Bricker one to two weeks prior to the start of the rotation to confirm that you are to report on the first day of the elective to the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

Program Goal

The purpose of the Pathology elective is to provide an understanding of the role the anatomic and clinical pathologist plays in patient management.

Program Objectives

• By the end of the Pathology Elective, the student will be able to:
• Formulate a differential diagnosis based on clinical history.
• Observe and describe gross findings in organs.
• Differentiate normal and abnormal gross findings.
• Correlate clinical manifestations of the patient with cytologic or histologic findings.
• Recognize the microscopic characteristics of common diseases.
• Describe the clinical and pathologic characteristics of common diseases.
• Formulate a final diagnosis based on clinical history, cytologic or histologic findings, ancillary studies and laboratory results.

Curriculum

The curriculum includes:

• Daily lectures: morning conferences at 8:00 a.m.
• Please refer to resident schedule given by the anatomic and clinical pathology chief residents for respective anatomic and clinical pathology conferences, including tumor boards.

Evaluation

Faculty and resident staff will evaluate students during their rotation based on attendance at sign-out and lab, conferences and final presentation. This information will provide the basis for filling out and submitting the standardized student evaluation (used for fourth year electives) to be completed by Dr. Hamidpour and forwarded to the UMKC School of Medicine.

Faculty

Soheila Hamidpour, M.D.
Email: soheila.hamidpour@tmcmed.org
Office phone: 816-404-0600

How to Apply

If you're interested in this program, please email Petra Bricker or call her at 816-235-1931. Requests must be received at least eight weeks prior to the start of the requested clerkship date.

Cancelation

You must withdraw at least four weeks before your start date.

Location

Pathology Department
University Health Truman Medical Center
2nd Floor, 2301 Holmes Street
Kansas City, MO 64108