Optimizing schools of cytology: Discussions from the 2022 ASC/IAC Cytology Education Symposium, North American Strategies, and European Symbiosis.

This report highlights information and outcomes from the November 2022 ASC/IAC joint Cytology Education Symposium, an annual conference organized by the Cytology Programs Review Committee. The manuscript provides information on shared educational opportunities and practices for cytology students and other learners in anatomic pathology, discusses recruitment strategies for schools of cytology, conveys teaching resources, introduces perspectives on virtual microscopy and online learning, and transmits information about wellness of students in schools of cytology.

Cytotechnologists' education and work in Finland.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to survey the work that cytotechnologists carry out in Finland. METHODS: An electronic questionnaire was planned with the Board of the Finnish Association of Cytotechnologists and an email containing the link was sent to all 107 of its members in January 2018. It included 17 questions on their age and work experience, education and work. There was also space for them to add other comments. RESULTS: Just under half (45%) replied. Their average age was 51 years (range 28-64), 41% had a Bachelor's degree, 59% had college-level training and they had spent an average of 15 years screening cytology specimens. After basic professional education, they had completed their cytology education in many ways and the most common routes were internship training (71%) and 1-year cytology specialisation (38%). Most of the cytotechnologists (85%) had duties other than screening and they mostly included a combination of histotechnology and cytotechnology (37.5%) or just cytotechnology (17%) or histotechnology (9%). The other 15% only screened cytology specimens. All cytotechnologists screened Papanicolaou smears, 94% screened urinary and respiratory specimens, 82% screened effusions and 39% screened fine-needle aspirations. CONCLUSIONS: We found that internship training provided essential training for Finnish cytotechnologists after they complete their basic professional studies. They reported many other duties in addition to microscopy screening.

Editorial: Optimizing Schools of Cytology: Discussions from the 2022 ASC/IAC Cytology Education Symposium, North American Strategies, and European Symbiosis.

This report highlights information and outcomes from the November 2022 ASC/IAC joint Cytology Education Symposium, an annual conference organized by the Cytology Programs Review Committee. The manuscript provides information on shared educational opportunities and practices for cytology students and other learners in anatomic pathology, discusses recruitment strategies for schools of cytology, conveys teaching resources, introduces perspectives on virtual microscopy and online learning, and transmits information about wellness of students in schools of cytology.

Training of nurses in point-of-care testing: a systematic review of the literature.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: To review and describe the training of nurses in point-of care testing. BACKGROUND: Point-of-care tests are usually carried out by nurses. They are used in many healthcare units. Through training, nurses are able to improve their competence in performing point-of-care testing. DESIGN: Systematic review. METHOD: A literature search of electronic data was undertaken in autumn 2011 using CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, Medline (Ovid) and Scopus databases. RESULTS: From the available literature, six specific initiatives were analysed. The studies were performed on three continents and in five healthcare settings. The three interventions were related to glucose point-of-care testing. The training approaches involved seven aspects. The interventions were diverse, broad and multifaceted, but they appeared to be successful. The strength of the interventions lay in the involvement of laboratory staff. Quantitative synthesis of the data was not undertaken because of different designs for the studies. CONCLUSION: Training can improve nurses' competence, and many methods are available. There are very few studies of training nurses in point-of-care testing, although in-depth descriptions of interventions in different settings would be valuable. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE: Nurses can be trained using a variety of methods in different healthcare settings. To save resources, especially in large hospitals and sparsely populated areas, distance learning is worth considering. However if training is delivered with the support of laboratory professionals, nurses subsequently perform good-quality point-of-care testing.

Health science students' experiences of group supervision of the bachelor's thesis.

This study aimed to describe health science university students' experiences of group supervision of the bachelor's thesis. Sixty-one students responded to questions on an open data collection form, and the data were analyzed by using qualitative inductive content analysis. According to the students, group supervision is supportive in terms of joint learning as well as commitment-enhancing and participative learning, but it also can be useless from the viewpoint of an individual student's own thesis. Teachers' role as experts and active directors of the group, students' commitment to learn together, and workable practical organization of the group were promoting factors, whereas students' timetable problems, mismatch between received and needed supervision, and difficulties in supervising other students were restraining factors. The results can be used for developing group supervision in higher health education.

Practicing Histotechnologists Identify the Core Competencies Needed by Newly Graduated Biomedical Laboratory Scientists in Histotechnology and Histology.

The universities of applied sciences in Finland offer 3.5-year courses for histotechnologists and they graduate as biomedical laboratory scientist with 12 credits in histology and histotechnology. The aim of this study was to survey practicing histotechnologists about the core competencies needed by newly graduated biomedical scientists in histology and histotechnology. The data were collected in Finland in 2015. We asked 43 participants to complete a questionnaire that comprised two background questions, five open-ended questions and 38 Likert scale questions, with the responses ranging from five (strongly agree) to one (strongly disagree), and 22 (51%) responded. They stated that the most important competencies were the principles of tissue processing (mean 4.77), embedding (4.64), laboratory safety (4.57), fixation methods (4.55), cutting by microtomy (4.55), quality control of sections (4.55), fixation methods (4.55), and principles of stains (4.36). The least important competencies were quality control of molecular pathology (2.56), interpretation of immunohistological stains (2.71), use of molecular pathology (2.89), and independent dissection (2.91). The respondents stated that there were 20 stains that newly graduated biomedical laboratory scientists needed to know. The practices involving staining emerged in the open responses and four were considered to be important: Hematoxylin-Eosin (n = 18), Periodic Acid Schiff (n = 11), Alcian Blue-Periodic Acid Schiff (n = 9), and Giemsa (n = 9). The most essential tissues to identify were the histology of the alimentary track (n = 9), skin (n = 6), and liver (n = 5). The core competencies that histotechnologists felt were important for newly graduated biomedical laboratory scientists seemed to be consistent with the current curriculum.

Culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students' experiences of the clinical learning environment and mentoring: A qualitative study.

Development of educators' and students' global competence in higher education is increasingly important due to internationalization. Internationalization significantly influences healthcare education through an increase in the mobility of students. When conducting clinical practice in healthcare education, culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students face the challenges of having limited learning opportunities and social isolation. Further investigation is required of students' experiences in this area while asking them to share their experiences. This study aimed to describe students' experiences of clinical learning environment and mentoring. A qualitative research design was used during 2013-2016. Data were collected from 133 culturally and linguistically diverse healthcare students, including exchange students and students studying in English language-taught degree programmes at eight Universities of Applied Sciences in Finland. Data were analysed using inductive content analysis. Students' experiences were related to their mentors' competence in mentoring, culturally diverse pedagogical atmosphere, and aspects of diversity that influence clinical learning. Students reported that they had experienced social isolation, discrimination, bullying, sexual harassment and prejudice during their clinical placements. These issues related to mistreatment of students need to be addressed. Also, structured clinical environments should be developed in which competent mentors assist students in reaching their clinical placement goals.

Health science students' conceptions of group supervision.

AIM: The aim of this study was to describe health science university students' conceptions of group supervision during work on bachelor's thesis. METHOD: This study is a qualitative research. Data were collected with an open data collection form from health science students (N=77). It was analysed by using inductive content analysis, conducted by a multidisciplinary research team. ETHICAL ISSUES: Appropriate ethical principles and scientific practice were followed. All the participants provided informed consent. RESULTS: Students' conceptions of group supervisions consisted of organization of group supervision, the nature of supervision, the interaction between students, the role of the supervisor and learning results. CONCLUSION: Group supervision is a student-centred and problem-based method of supervision achieving a common target. It consists of interaction between students and supervisor. The supervisor's role is profiled as scientific and substantial expertise. Group supervision is a suitable supervision method for achieving theoretical and practical scientific skills.

An interactive two-step training and management model of point-of-care glucose testing in northern Finland.

OBJECTIVES: To assess an interactive 2-step training and management model for nurses in glucose point-of-care testing (POCT). STUDY DESIGN: The training of the nursing staff by the point-of-care coordinator of the laboratory started with interactive sessions with contact persons who subsequently trained their nursing colleagues at the Oulu University Hospital in northern Finland. The 2-step training model was applied in blood glucose testing as a pilot study. METHODS: Functional quality was assessed through interviews with clinical contact persons and a questionnaire was given to the trained nurses. Technical quality was assessed through control measurements by laboratory and nursing staff. RESULTS: Training succeeded because of basic resources (trainers' knowledge and skills, organized contents of training and place), interpersonal communication and high-quality interactions. Nurses were especially satisfied with the prerequisite training of the contact persons (mean score 1.58, Likert scale from -2 to +2, strongly disagree - strongly agree). Day-to-day repeatabilities of less than 3% were achieved in control measurements by both nursing and laboratory staff. CONCLUSIONS: The interactive 2-step training and management model could be implemented in the clinical units using a reasonable amount of laboratory resources. The goal of good functional and technical quality in point-of-care testing in the clinical units was achieved. Despite successful implementation, POCT needs continuous support from the laboratory.