Audiovisual mnemonics for residents
July 2026—The volume of information pathology residents need to know by the end of residency to pass the board exams is extraordinarily large. Certain subspecialties within pathology such as hematopathology can be especially challenging because there are hundreds of CD markers, which can make memorizing them and their associated diseases difficult. Articles have been published on the overload and stress pathology trainees feel.1-4
Companies such as Picmonic and Sketchy offer paid subscription access to audiovisual mnemonics tailored to medical students, to help them recall content relevant to the board examinations, but a similar resource for pathology residents does not exist, probably because not enough time has passed for these resources to cross over to our specialty. I believe that much of the current research on this topic as it pertains to medical students, some of which I note here, can be extrapolated to pathology residents.5-7
I found these AV mnemonic resources useful when I was a medical student, and therefore I decided to create my own sketches for pathology residents and share them online (www.youtube.com/@PathoBird). The content thus far covers the hematopathology chapter of the Quick Compendium of Clinical Pathology. I used Google Gemini to create the sketches, and I wrote and narrated the scripts on my own.
The videos I created are not monetized, and I intend to keep it that way. I have received no financial compensation. My intention is simply to share this resource with pathology residents in hopes it helps others study for their board exams and retain information long term as much as it has helped me. The videos have been available for about a year; my YouTube channel has more than 200 subscribers from many countries.
- Khatab Z, Hanna K, Rofaeil A, Wang C, Maung R, Yousef GM. Pathologist workload, burnout, and wellness: connecting the dots. Crit Rev Clin Lab Sci. 2024;61(4):254–274.
- Kelly M, Soles R, Garcia E, Kundu I. Job stress, burnout, work-life balance, well-being, and job satisfaction among pathology residents and fellows. Am J Clin Pathol. 2020;153(4):449–469.
- Cohen MB, Saint Martin M, Gross DJ, et al. Features of burnout amongst pathologists: a reassessment. Acad Pathol. 2022;9(1):100052.
- Joseph L, Shaw PF, Smoller BR. Perceptions of stress among pathology residents: survey results and some strategies to reduce them. Am J Clin Pathol. 2007;128(6):911–919.
- Abdalla MMI, Azzani M, Rajendren R, et al. Effect of story-based audiovisual mnemonics in comparison with text-reading method on memory consolidation among medical students: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Med Sci. 2021;362(6):612–618.
- Kathiah R, Daya AP, MP S, Selvakumar S. Evaluating the impact of cartoon-based learning on student performance and engagement in medical education: an experimental study. Cureus. 2024;16(2):e54684.
- Sabesan GS, Visvanathan S, Sethuraman KR. Storytelling and cartoon characters in medical microbiology: an engaging approach to enhance teaching and learning. SBV J Basic Clin Appl Health Sci. 2024;7(4):170–174.
Nicolas Mavromatis, MD
AP/CP PG-3
University of Utah Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine
Salt Lake City
Retraining pathologists for renal subspecialty practice
Renal pathology has a workforce problem that fellowship pipelines alone cannot solve. The specialty loses experienced pathologists to retirement and burnout faster than traditional training can replace them, and most practicing pathologists never consider renal as a viable mid-career move because there has been no structured pathway to make it possible. At Arkana Laboratories, we built one.
Our mid-career transition program takes a practicing, board-certified pathologist and trains them to full renal pathology competency in approximately six to eight months. The structure is deliberate: The first month is dedicated to building a knowledge foundation through textbooks and seminal literature before any case exposure begins. In the second month, physicians begin reviewing cases, starting with one and adding incrementally every few weeks until they reach five cases, which mirrors a near-full clinical load.
Three physicians on our staff have completed the program and are now practicing renal pathology full time: Miran Rhee, MD; Cherry Starling, MD; and Jaime Singh, MD. You can hear what they have to say in this video: https://bit.ly/AR-renalpath.
The program works because the support structure is real and was built for experienced pathologists already in practice who are burned out, seeking a new challenge, or simply curious about renal pathology. No prior subspecialty experience is required—just an open mind. Physicians entering the program have access to more than 20 seasoned renal pathologists invested in their success, as well as colleagues who have been through the transition themselves. And for those concerned about relocating, Little Rock offers more than people expect.
We know the pathologist shortage is not going away. We also know that the pool of mid-career pathologists who are burned out, underused, or simply ready for something new is larger than most people acknowledge. A structured retraining pathway is one concrete answer to both problems. We hope sharing our model is useful to the field.
Chris Larsen, MD
Chief Executive Officer
Paul Miller, MD
Program Director,
Mid-Career Transition Program
Arkana Laboratories
Little Rock, Ark.
AI use in revenue cycle management
During the Executive War College in New Orleans, I interviewed some of the largest revenue cycle management companies in the laboratory and pathology space to see how they are using artificial intelligence to make the billing process easier.
They all noted the big challenge is getting the human out of the loop. If you have to rely on humans to fix what’s wrong, you are stuck in a process where you are constantly throwing people and money at fixing the issue. We are starting to see changes where medical billing firms are building automated processes to actually fix claims. These are not just simple machine learning models and web crawlers; they are software programs that diagnose, find, and fix the problem.
It is interesting to see the comfort level of each company and their “feeling” about AI in the process. Some firms are moving quickly into this change while others are taking a hands-off wait-and-see approach.
If you compare current AI use in the revenue cycle industry to AI and the automotive industry, it is easy. At this point we have Waymo self-driving cars taking people on trips across the most complex city landscape. The revenue cycle world has not reached this point. They barely trust AI to find a missing address. We are closer to developing the basic cruise control in the RCM process than to letting the claim be self-driving. It will be interesting to see how this develops over the next 10 years.
Mick Raich
Pathology RCM Consultant
Palmyra, Mich.
Send letters to editor to srice@cap.org.