ABSTRACT
Introduction/Objective: PathElective.com was founded as a means of combating stagnating resident and medical student education due to halting of in-person educational activities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The site has since grown to be included in medical student and resident training programs at numerous institutions across the world, serving as a unique means of delivering highquality and trackable laboratory medicine education. Methods/Case Report: The PathElective website was developed using Squarespace, video lectures were recorded by each professor or sourced from openly available web resources incorporating virtual slides, reading assignments, or relevant podcasts at the course director's discretion. Monthly website traffic data were obtained through Squarespace analytics for the first 11 months of the website being available (May 1, 2020, to April 22, 2021). Geographic and source data were obtained through deidentified IP address analysis built-in to Squarespace analytics. Students who registered to take the online courses were assessed before and after interacting with the course materials using a dual form crossover quiz design to prevent memorization of questions and assess comprehension. Quiz data were all anonymous and improvement was determined using a paired t-test. Comparisons between courses were made via percentage improvements. Results (if a Case Study enter NA): Over the tracking period, PathElective.com received 352,012 page views, 73,550 visits, 33,225 unique visitors, and accrued 5,815 registered users. Most of the visitors (72.8%) arrived at the site via a direct URL input, 14.9% through a search engine, and 10.6% through social media. Most visitors were from the US (43.8%) or India (11.9%). With a total of 1598 test pairs being analyzed from all clinical pathology modules, the average increase in score was 14.4% (95%, CI=10.3- 18.6, p=0.0052). All courses experienced a statistically significant increase in scores except for Clinical Chemistry lesson 3.2 (7%, -1.8-15.9% CI, p=0.12). Courses were well received with a median satisfaction score was very satisfied in all six assessment categories. Conclusion: PathElective.com is a free and effective means of enhancing clinical pathology training in medical education. Students liked the online format, the quality of the lectures, and course faculty, and felt they could get help if needed. An area of improvement for this platform would be the interaction with students on social media.
ABSTRACT
Custom-made, point-of-care PCR platforms are a necessary tool for rapid, point-of-care diagnostics in situations such as the current Covid-19 pandemic. However, a common issue faced by them is noisy fluorescence signals, which consist of a drifting baseline or noisy sigmoidal curve. This makes automated detection difficult and requires human verification. In this paper, we have tried to use nonlinear fitting for automated classification of PCR waveforms to identify whether amplification has taken place or not. We have presented several novel signal reconstruction techniques based on nonlinear fitting which will enable better pre-processing and automated differentiation of a valid or invalid PCR amplification curve. We have also tried to perform this classification at lower PCR cycles to reduce decision times in diagnostic tests.
ABSTRACT
Introduction/Objective Grand Rounds seminars are a cornerstone of scholarship in allacademic departments. They provide education, stimulatediscussion, and build faculty reputation. The COVID-19 pandemicled to cancellations in teaching conferences and lost opportunitiesfor all of the above starting in March 2020. The social medialhashtag #VirtualPathGR and @VirtualPathGR Twitter (SanFrancisco, CA) accounts (VPGR) were created to address a need forcontinued engagement in academic pathology, during and afterperiods of physical distancing. Methods #VirtualPathGR was first used on March 21, 2020 to assess interestin a VPGR format. Six pathologists organized a social-media basedplatform, utilizing video conferencing. Zoom (San Jose, CA) was selected because it is free and easy to use. A committee developedcriteria for inviting hosts and speakers, developed a logo and template for announcements and promoted VPGR. Potentialspeakers were selected initially via self-nomination and subsequently by selections from the VPGR board. Free pre-registration was required to minimize risk of disruption bymalicious actors. Academic institutions served as “hosts” similarto traditional GR, and the speaker was introduced by one of theVPGR board members. Evaluations were sent to participants viathe chat function in Zoom. Lectures were recorded and archivedvia YouTube (San Bruno, CA). Results As of May 1, #VirtualPathGR has 2.6 million impressions and theTwitter account has 808 followers. From April 2 to May 1, fiveVPGR were held with 1,720 registrations (average 344 per event)and 829 Zoom attendees overall (average 165 per event). 4separate academic host institutions were involved and speakersincluded Assistant to Full Professors. Participants from 16different countries attended the live sessions. The archived talkshave been viewed 954 times via YouTube. VPGR received support from the American Society for Clinical Pathology (Chicago, IL), leading to a partnership to provide CME credit. Conclusion VPGR serves as strong proof of concept of the ability and demandfor high quality academic pathology talks to be given remotely.VPGR promotes academic engagement and provides career-building opportunities by partnering with host universities. Whileremote learning comes with challenges, VPGR shows that thepathology community can harness the power of remotetechnologies to enhance learning across the world, now and in thefuture.