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Contents
Introduction
Teaching
CPC Quiz
Dr. MacLeod’s Sessions
APPENDIX
GLS
Staff
Adjunct Staff
Lectures
Lecture material
Audio recordings
Keepads
Microscope Slides
Digital Histopathology slides
CPC Images
Gross Specimens/ Pots
GLS Structure
A.
B.
Pathology Timetable
Pathology Website
* ‘PATHOLOGY NOTES’ Link *
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Page
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9-10

Introduction
Staff
There are 3 full time staff members in the Discipline of Pathology. There are also adjunct staffs who are also involved in teaching pathology.
Name
Shashidhar
Venkatesh
(Shashi)
Position
Head of
Pathology
Dr. Richa Dua Microbiologist
Lucy Barnes Technician
(Temporary;
Leaving in
2009)
Room & phone
Number
MS-136
MS-130
MS-148
Email venkatesh.shashidhar@jcu.edu.au
or vmshashi@gmail.com
richa.dua@jcu.edu.au
lucy.barnes@jcu.edu.au
TBA New Technician In new building
(DB046)
Adjunct Staff
Name
Dr. Alfred K.Y. Lam
Dr. Meredith MacLeod
Email
A.Lam@griffith.edu.au
meredith.macleod@qml.com.au
Dr. Robin A. Cooke
Dr. Nigel Buxton
Dr. Saif Chopra
Dr. Geetanjali Baveja cooker@ozemail.com.au
chopras@tpg.com.au
nigel_buxton@snp.com.au
Geetanjali_Baveja@health.qld.gov.au
Teaching
Each week, as with your CPCs (Clinical Pathology Case), a new topic (s) is covered in pathology. A lecture on the topic (s) is given first and then a Guided Learning
Session (GLS) is run later on in the week.
Lectures
The weekly lecture is usually held on the same day, at the same time each week
(Wednesday, 3-5pm). Occasionally, adjunct staff may give a lecture which is usually scheduled in at another time on the timetable (i.e. Tuesday, 4-6pm). At the start of terms 2, 3 and 4 a review session (of the lecture material covered in the previous term) is held for students who were on rural placement in the preceding term.
Lecture Material
- Tuesday Evenings
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Lecture notes for Pathology are not made available to students until the Tuesday evening before the lecture. The CPC topic and the pathology topic are similar and it is believed that students will make a better differential diagnosis if they do not know the week’s topic. Hence, why the lecture notes are not made available to students at the beginning of the week. The lecture notes that are made available on Tuesday evenings are the lecture notes used in the previous year’s lecture. These notes are only made available as a reference (i.e. do not print them out to use in the lecture).
The lecture notes are updated annually and therefore, last year’s lecture notes will not be the same as the notes used in the lecture. The previous year’s notes are only uploaded in the PowerPoint (PPT) file format only with the accompanying text:
‘Attached is the presentation to view (PPT) prepared by Shashi in 2008. Please note that Shashi will be updating these notes and the version is only a reference.
The updated version will be placed on LearnJCU on Wednesday.’
- Updated Version
The updated version of the lecture notes are made available on the day of the lecture, usually in the afternoon, depending on when they are finished being updated. The academic who has been updating the notes lets the Pathology technician know when they are finished updating and then technician then makes the notes available on
LearnJCU. The notes are made available in PowerPoint file format and also a printable PDF version. The following text accompanies the lecture notes:
‘Attached is the presentation to view (PPT) or notes to print (PDF) prepared by
Shashi (Updated 2009).’
Inevitably, sometimes lecture notes are further updated after the Pathology technician has placed what is thought to be the final updated version on LearnJCU (meaning that students may not have the most recently updated version that will be used in the lecture). If this is the case, please contact the Pathology technician who will put the updated version online.
Audio Recording
Audio is recorded for each lecture and then placed on LearnJCU as a podcast.
Keepads
Keepad
(Student Use)
Receiver
(Staff Use)
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Keepads are electronic devices that allow students to respond to questions during lectures. Student responses are picked up by a receiver plugged into the theatre computer. Student responses are recorded, allowing student progress to be monitored.
A list of multiple choice questions will be displayed at some point in the pathology lecture.
You will be allocated a Keepad (a list will be provided to inform which Keepad belongs to which student) and are expected to collect the Keepad at the start of each lecture. When you enter a response (i.e. press 1/A when you select option A as the answer to the question), there is a light on your Keepad that flashes green when the response is received by the receiver. If it flashes orange or red:
-
Press ‘GO’;
-
Press ‘4’;
Press ‘1’;
-
Press ‘Go’;
The receiver is on ‘frequency 41’ and so the above steps put the Keepads on the same frequency as the receiver. If your Keepad still doesn’t work, please get in contact with the pathology technician.
After the lecture, you are required to return the Keepads to the carry bag they are housed in. The Keepad number is engraved at the top of each Keepad. Please place the Keepad back in the bag with engraved number facing upwards. It would greatly be appreciated if Keepads are returned to the bag in their proper numerical order.
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1 The Keepads are put within slots in foam in the carry bag. The slots have a sticker above them with the numbers that go in each slot (i.e. 1-10, 11-20, 21-30). Please put your Keepad back in the correct slot.
GLS
The GLS is held in DB046-103 and is always held after the lecture so that students are introduced to the week’s topic before the GLS. There are 4 resources that may be used in the GLS.
Microscope Slides
The Discipline of Pathology has a range of microscope slides of pathological tissue that corresponds to topics taught throughout the year. These slides are stored in gray boxes which are made available to students in the GLS (placed out on a table in the teaching laboratory (MS- ); please note the slides can be booked in times outside the
GLS time) along with normal histology slides which are placed out in cardboard slips.
A GLS workbook that describes the slides being used in the GLS is made available on
LearnJCU. Please print this out and bring along to the GLS. An academic will go over the slides with students in the GLS.
For some of the topics taught throughout the year there aren’t any corresponding slides. The following text is placed for the GLS workbook if there are no slides:
‘
Please note that there are no teaching slides for this GLS for this week's CPC.
Despite there being no teaching slides, the GLS will still go ahead as we have specimens and/or digital pathology slides for this week's topics. Any questions regarding the topic can be directed to Shashi and Richa .’
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There are static photographs of these slides available on the Pathology Website (the
‘Teaching Slides’ link – see image in Appendix below).
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However, you can not zoom in or zoom out of the image. A link to virtual slides from the University of Iowa
(where you can zoom in and zoom out of the slide) is available through the same
‘Teaching Slides’ link (written in pink text).
2 http://www.jcu.edu.au/path/Index%202.htm
Digital Pathology Slides
The digital pathology slides are a relatively new resource to the Discipline (being obtained half way through 2008). Slides have been digitized as such that you can view the slides on a computer as you would on a microscope (i.e. at different magnifications; zoom in and out). The Head of Pathology selects the appropriate slides for the week from a collection and then adds annotations to these slides
(pointing out key pathological features in the slide). An academic will go over the digital histopathology slides with students in the GLS.
As of 2009, the Discipline has commenced placing the digitized pathology slides used in MB4 teaching online. The digitized slides used in MB4 teaching are being placed under the ‘Online Webslides’ link on the Pathology Website (please see Appendix below). As of January 2009, this is still a work in progress.
At the end of the week the topic is taught, slides are burnt onto a disc and the discs are sent out to rural sites for students on rural placement.
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There will be no extra discs for students not on rural placement as these digital slides are online and students not on rural placement have ready access to the website on campus (or at home for those with internet at home).
3 Outlined below, a video recording of an academic explaining the specimens used in the GLS is also added to the disc. The recording is done during the GLS on the Thursday, hence why the discs are burnt and sent out to rural sites at the end of the week. These recordings are also hoped to be placed online either on LearnJCU or on the
Pathology website (in the same ‘Online Webslides’ link – to be announced).
CPC Images
Images of histology, histopathology and gross specimens are on the Pathology
Website under the ‘CPC Images’ link (see image in Appendix below). These images are there to help guide students when viewing the microscope slides and digital pathology slides (please note that the images are a guide only and what students are required to learn is taught during the lecture and GLS).
Gross Specimens/ Pots
The Discipline of Pathology has a number of gross human specimens illustrating pathological conditions. These are the specimens mounted in Perspex containers
(called pots) on display in the teaching laboratory (DB046-103 ). The specimens corresponding to the weekly topic are placed out on a table in the MS- with an accompanying specimen description. During the GLS, an academic within the
Discipline will explain these specimens to students. The explanations are video recorded with these recording being placed on the Pathology website and burnt onto the same discs containing the digital pathology. There are also photographs of the
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specimens used in the GLSs online on the Pathology Website (the ‘Virtual Museum’ link – see image in Appendix below).
If you handle any of the pots, please handle with CARE. The pots are to be held by supporting the base, NOT by grabbing the top. It is not advised to move pots around the teaching laboratory.
GLS Structure
All the GLS material is available to students during the GLS time (and outside the
GLS time – students need to make bookings of the resources like microscope slides).
An academic will go through the material with students and then students are then free to review the material by themselves. Typically, the order in which resources are explained is as follows:
1.
Gross Specimens;
2.
Microscope Slides & Digital Pathology Slides.
CPC Quiz
Each week a quiz is made available in the Assessments folder on LearnJCU. The quiz consists of questions on pathology as well as clinical questions. The quiz is made available on LearnJCU on Thursday evenings (after the GLS) and is left online until the following Tuesday morning.
4 The quizzes are only made available for a short amount of time with the aim being that students focus on the week’s topic when it is being taught.
4 Sometimes the quiz may be put on LearnJCU a day late. If this is the case, it will be left online until the following Wednesday.
Dr. MacLeod’s Sessions
Dr. MacLeod is the Pathologist in Charge at QML Pathology in Townsville. Dr.
MacLeod has volunteered to run sessions with students throughout the year, going over the microscope slides (and/ or digital slides) used in the GLS. These sessions are usually run in the late afternoon around 5-5:30pm as this is the time when Dr.
MacLeod is most free (please note, Dr. MacLeod may be running late for these sessions).
Unfortunately, Dr. MacLeod may have to cancel sessions at the last minute as the sessions are planned in advance and she may receive work-related requests (i.e. frozen sections) on the day that require immediate attention. This is unavoidable as Dr.
Macleod’s has a commitment to her work. Students will be notified by email and an announcement placed on LearnJCU if a session is cancelled in advance. A notice will be posted on the laboratory door if the cancellation is last minute. This (the chance of a cancellation) is not to deter students attending sessions. Dr. MacLeod loves teaching and the sessions are definitely worthwhile to attend.
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APPENDIX
A. PATHOLOGY TIMETABLE
The overall timetable for pathology is as follows:
8am
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday
Previous
Week’s
Quiz taken
Updated
Lecture
Notes are
Offline Available
9am
10am
11am
Noon
1pm
2pm
3pm
4pm
5pm Lecture
Notes (Last
Year’s)
Available
Pathology
Lecture
(4-6pm)
Pathology
GLS
(2-5pm)
Current
Week’s
Quiz put
Online
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Friday

B. PATHOLOGY WEBSITE
Below is an image of the main page of the Pathology website and a description of the main resources on this website (labelled 1-7 in red font).
Teaching Images = Static image of microscope slides used in GLS plus a link to digital slides from the University of Iowa;
Virtual Museum = Images of the potted specimens in the teaching laboratory;
Online Webslides = the digital histopathology slides used in the GLS;
CPC Images = A collection of labelled histopathology and gross pathology images to act as a guide;
Image Database = A collection of unlabelled gross and histopathology slides;
Pathology Notes = Comprehensive pathology notes, lectures and resources*;
Other links = provides links to some useful sites for pathology.
*Pathology Notes
This is a new link added to the Pathology website in 2009. Hence, this link is being trialled for the first time in 2009. In this link, summaries and questions will be made available for the weekly CPC topic after the topic is taught. However, input into this
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site will be done through student contributions only (called ‘Author’s Club’) with the site being only being edited by staff. Students can send in questions and notes in regards to the CPC topics and then, over time, a comprehensive Pathology Notes
Handbook (containing these notes and questions) can be put together for student use.
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