Kumar Rakesh K, Velan Gary M, Korell Sami O, Kandara Madan, Dee Fred R, Wakefield Denis
Department of Pathology, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
J Pathol. 2004 Dec;204(5):613-8. doi: 10.1002/path.1658.
Virtual slides are high-magnification digital images of tissue sections, stored in a multi-resolution file format. Using appropriate software, these slides can be viewed in a web browser in a manner that closely simulates examination of glass slides with a real microscope. We describe the successful implementation of teaching microscopic pathology with virtual slides and, for the first time, their use in summative assessment. Both students and teaching staff readily adapted to the use of virtual microscopy. Questionnaire feedback from students strongly indicated that virtual slides solved a number of problems in their learning, while providing good to excellent image quality. A deliberate policy of allocating two students per workstation promoted collaboration and helped to maintain interest in microscopic pathology. The use of a secure browser facilitated assessment using virtual slides, with no technical or security issues arising despite high peak demand. The new Medicine programme at the University of New South Wales will exclusively utilize virtual microscopy for the study of both histology and histopathology. We believe that the use of high-quality learning resources such as virtual slides can ensure that microscopic examination of tissues remains both meaningful and interesting.
虚拟切片是组织切片的高倍数字图像，以多分辨率文件格式存储。使用适当的软件，这些切片可以在网络浏览器中查看，其方式非常接近使用实体显微镜检查玻璃切片。我们描述了使用虚拟切片进行微观病理学教学的成功实施情况，并且首次介绍了其在总结性评估中的应用。学生和教师都很容易适应虚拟显微镜的使用。学生的问卷调查反馈强烈表明，虚拟切片解决了他们学习中的一些问题，同时提供了良好到极佳的图像质量。每台工作站分配两名学生的刻意政策促进了合作，并有助于保持对微观病理学的兴趣。使用安全浏览器便于利用虚拟切片进行评估，尽管需求高峰时也未出现技术或安全问题。新南威尔士大学的新医学课程将专门利用虚拟显微镜进行组织学和组织病理学研究。我们相信，使用虚拟切片等高质量学习资源能够确保对组织的微观检查既有意义又有趣。
