Goals and Objectives

The primary objective of the Cytopathology Fellowship is to educate pathologists to become competent cytopathologists capable of practicing in either an academic center or private practice setting; to be proficient in effective communication with clinical colleagues; and to be self-motivated and diligent in continuing education and clinical research.

The program has four major goals, along with our training emphasis on competency-based educational outcome assessment:

• Provide the fellow with the scientific knowledge, technical skills and administrative experience necessary to practice cytopathology. The fellow is trained to effectively apply ancillary studies and new technology to cytology specimens.

• Teach fellows to integrate their medical knowledge with cytomorphology and to proceed in a logical fashion to obtain the optimal diagnostic information from the cytology specimen. The use of ancillary studies such as microbiology, electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, flow cytometry and cell image analysis and DNA-based technologies as adjuncts to the cytomorphology diagnosis is heavily emphasized.

• Promote the development of investigational skills. The cytology fellow is encouraged to participate in research projects in cytology, prepare interesting case reports with reviews of the literature and present a research project at a local or national meeting.

• Promote the development of teaching and presentation skills. The cytopathology fellow is expected to assist in the training of Pathology residents in cytology, and are given the opportunity to present at intra- and interdepartmental conferences.

The fellowship emphasizes training centered on competency-based educational objectives and dependable educational outcome assessment. The fellowship is divided into two rotations, Aspiration Cytology (FNA) and Exfoliative Cytology (non-FNA), each six months in length. Fellows alternate on each rotation on a biweekly basis. Each rotation has a defined set of competency-based objectives, provides an appropriate educational experience and then assesses competency utilizing a competency-based rotation evaluation form. Educational goals are distributed to fellows and faculty yearly. Faculty are expected to review goals with the fellows at the start of each rotation.

At the completion of the fellowship it is expected that the fellow will have achieved a level of skill such that they are competent to enter the practice of cytopathology without direct supervision.

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