CAP TODAY Pathology/Laboratory Medicine/Laboratory Management
April 2019—As Dr. Seuss famously wrote, “It is fun to have fun, but you have to know how.” CAP Council on Education chair Jennifer Hunt, MD, MEd, agrees. Learning styles evolve as we mature, she says; grownups are not just tall children. We know what we want to do and are drawn to knowledge we can use.
Most pathologists are born educators; we can’t help ourselves. We like to think about how we learn. I think that’s why the CAP Learning team does such an outstanding job—they know what to ask, how to listen, and when to act. Participant evaluations are scrutinized and what we learn from them is applied quickly.
CAP education is unique because it is so tightly targeted to pathologists, but that’s not the whole story. CAP Learning set out in 2016 to update our education design strategy, which considers tools and educational methods we use, parameters we set, and goals we agree to pursue. Concurrently, they launched a needs ana-lysis via one-on-one member interviews that shaped agendas for focus groups whose feedback uncovered problems and opportunities.
R. Bruce Williams, MD
The new tools and methods to achieve the strategy are now emerging in live and online workshops and courses. These robust and dynamic options are spontaneous, challenging, and, importantly, respectful of the learner’s time. Modular formats, sometimes called bite-size learning, allow participants to complete coursework in one or several sessions as convenient. For example, “Creating a Culture of Patient Safety” covers epidemiology, systems-based thinking, human factors and cultural aspects, communication, error, and quality improvement across seven individual modules. “Managing Your Revenue Cycle for Success” takes the learner to where the rubber hits the road in practice management. Nine lessons cover everything from how pathology practices monitor their revenue streams to which management choices will most affect the bottom line. What calculations need to be made and how often? Which functions can be outsourced? Where do you start? “Negotiation Strategies for Pathologists” is another example. Participants learn the skills they need to gather and organize the right information for successful negotiation, including how to separate the person from the problem and find common ground.
Our education is becoming more flexible, allowing learners to find the content they need easily, when and where they need it. You’ll be accessing more courses from your mobile devices and participating in more audience response from your phones. There will be more interactive videos, where pathologist actors present case examples, learners are asked to comment, and their answers determine whether the next frame is a deep dive into new territory or a detour around already familiar material.
“Feedback and You: Give it. Seek it. Use it.” is framed on a popular annual meeting program that CAP Curriculum Committee chair Sarah Bean, MD, and her colleague Sara Jiang, MD, both of Duke University School of Medicine, Department of Pathology, have presented for years. This self-assessment module activity includes six podcast episodes that are no longer than 16 minutes each. My personal favorite episode, on the basis of the title alone, is called “Ask-Tell-Ask: Beyond the Feedback Sandwich.”
Online learning is a fine option, but most of us enjoy “live” learning as well. CAP19 (Sept. 21–25, at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla.) will be my first choice for that this fall. The meeting is engaging on so many levels, and it’s over in a blink. This year, pathologists will choose from more than 80 CME courses, more than half of which are new. Seven pathology and clinical societies will cosponsor courses. Several hot topics will be added closer to the meeting date. And in order to accommodate more of those who cannot join us during the week, a full cadre of courses are planned for the weekend. Counting your self-assessment module credits? CAP19 will provide ample opportunity to complete SAMs with courses.