Mukherjee Maheswari S, Donnelly Amber D, DeAgano Vincent J, Lyden Elizabeth R, Radio Stanley J
Cytotechnology Education, College of Allied Health Professions, University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA.
Department of Cytology, Northwell Health, NY, USA.
J Pathol Inform. 2016 Mar 1;7:8. doi: 10.4103/2153-3539.177682. eCollection 2016.
Our cytotechnology (CT) program has been utilizing virtual microscopy (VM) as an adjunct educational resource since 2011.
The aim of this study was to identify the utilization of VM in other CT programs across the United States (US).
A cover letter was sent to the program directors of all accredited CT programs in the US (excluding our program), requesting their participation in an online survey. After 2 days, the participants were sent an online link to the survey. The survey results were analyzed using descriptive statistics.
There were a total of 25 respondents to the survey. Among the 25, three CT programs use VM. Two of the three programs have been using VM for <2 years while another program for "2-4" years. The respondents found that VM's side-by-side comparison feature helped to demonstrate differences between diagnoses and preparation methods, and VM helped to preserve the important slides by digitizing them. Respondents believed that teaching with glass slides was very important. The reasons for not using VM were that VM is expensive and time-consuming to incorporate into the program, and lack of manpower resources to create digitized teaching files.
The CT programs that use VM found it to be a valuable educational tool. Even though many were not using VM, responses from the survey indicated they will likely use it in the future.
自2011年以来，我们的细胞技术（CT）项目一直将虚拟显微镜（VM）用作辅助教育资源。
本研究的目的是确定VM在美国其他CT项目中的使用情况。
向美国所有经认可的CT项目（不包括我们的项目）的项目主任发送了一封求职信，请求他们参与在线调查。两天后，向参与者发送了调查的在线链接。使用描述性统计分析调查结果。
共有25名受访者参与了调查。在这25个项目中，有三个CT项目使用VM。其中两个项目使用VM的时间不到2年，另一个项目使用了“2 - 4”年。受访者发现VM的并排比较功能有助于展示诊断和制备方法之间的差异，并且VM通过将重要幻灯片数字化有助于保存它们。受访者认为使用玻璃幻灯片教学非常重要。不使用VM的原因是将VM纳入项目成本高且耗时，并且缺乏创建数字化教学文件的人力资源。
使用VM的CT项目发现它是一种有价值的教育工具。尽管许多项目没有使用VM，但调查结果表明他们未来可能会使用它。
