Peer assessment of a final-year capstone experience for formative evaluation of a pathology curriculum.

In spring of 2005, the authors implemented and evaluated a process at the Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine in which third-year students evaluated fourth-year students' performances on an advanced case-analysis assignment. This assignment, called the case correlation assignment, required a thorough integration and explanation of all ante- and post-mortem data for a specific hospital patient. Using a 21-point rubric, the necropsy course instructor and third-year students rated these assignments. Fourth-year students' performances on this assignment were used as an indicator of the success of the pathology curriculum. The authors evaluated the assessment process for feasibility, reliability, and validity. Many-facet Rasch analysis was used to determine item, case, and rater agreement. The assessment process produced good agreement among items and cases (VM4 student competence). Furthermore, most third-year students were able to reliably rate the case correlation assignments with no special training. The evaluation process was cost effective and occurred in the context of regular course assignments, thereby making it feasible. A case can be made that the overall process provides a valid measure of the pathology program's success in preparing students in the area of veterinary pathology.

A novel educational tool for teaching diagnostic reasoning and laboratory data interpretation to veterinary (and medical) students.

The Diagnostic Pathfinder was designed to help students learn diagnostic problem solving by supporting them in explaining relationships among history and physical examination findings, data abnormalities, and the underlying mechanisms of disease. The Pathfinder has been used to teach diagnostic problem solving to veterinary students since 2001 and is currently in use at 10 colleges of veterinary medicine. This article describes how the Pathfinder works and summarizes results from studies exploring the effect of Pathfinder use on learning and satisfaction. Pathfinder characteristics are described in terms of their influence on cognitive load, and strategies are provided for effective implementation.

Mechanism-based diagnostic reasoning: thoughts on teaching introductory clinical pathology.

Teaching introductory clinical pathology to veterinary students is a challenging endeavor that requires a shift in learning strategies from rote memorization to diagnostic reasoning. Educational research has identified discrete cognitive stages required to achieve the automated, unconscious thinking process used by experts. Building on this knowledge, we developed a case-based approach to clinical pathology instruction that actively engages students in the learning process and links performance with positive reward. Simulated cases provide context and create a structure, or "schema", which enhances the learning process by enabling students to synthesize facts and link them with their causal mechanism to reach a defensible diagnostic conclusion. Web-based tools, including the "Problem List Generator" and tutorials, have been developed to facilitate this process. Through the collaborative Biomedical Informatics Research Group, we are working to further develop and evaluate Web-based instructional tools and new educational methods, to clarify the diagnostic reasoning processes used by experienced clinical pathologists, and, ultimately, to better educate our future students to be effective diagnosticians.

A comparison of the cytologic and histologic features of meningiomas in four dogs.

The cytologic and histologic features of 2 intracranial and 2 spinal (extramedullary cervical) canine meningiomas were compared. Cerebrospinal fluid analysis in 2 cases revealed mild, mixed cell pleocytosis, primarily composed of small lymphocytes and monocytoid cells, with a moderate increase in total protein concentration. Cytologic features suggestive of meningioma included cells with both epithelial and mesenchymal characteristics and a tendency towards cell clustering. Tumor location also was useful in making a diagnosis. The 4 meningiomas differed histologically from one another, and included angioblastic, psammomatous, meningotheliomatous, and microcystic anaplastic types, which conformed to a classification scheme for human meningiomas. The classification scheme could not be applied to cytologic specimens.