The Pathology residency provides a core curriculum of 28 months of anatomic and 18 months of clinical pathology. The fourth year provides a flexible curriculum to allow the resident the opportunity to bolster weaknesses, revisit specific areas of interest and to expand upon subspecialty interests.
| Year | AP/CP | Rotation | Weeks |
| I | AP | Autopsy/Surgical | 38 |
| Cytology | 4 | ||
| CP | Hematology | 6 | |
| Meetings/Vacation | 4 | ||
| II | AP | Autopsy/Surgical | 14 |
| Cytology | 4 | ||
| CP | Chemistry/Lab Admin. | 8 | |
| Microbiology | 8 | ||
| Hematology | 4 | ||
| Immunology | 6 | ||
| Blood Bank | 4 | ||
| Meetings/Vacation | 4 | ||
| III | AP | CHMC Anatomic Pathology (Ped. Path., NP, & EM) |
8 |
| Autopsy/Surgical | 20 | ||
| Cytology | 4 | ||
| CP | Hematology | 4 | |
| Molecular | 4 | ||
| Blood Bank | 4 | ||
| Research/Elective | 4 | ||
| Meetings/Vacation | 4 | ||
| IV | AP | Autopsy/Surgical | 10 |
| Cytology | 4 | ||
| Forensic | 4 | ||
| CP | CHMC CP Rotation (Vir/Hem/Cytog/Mol. Biol) |
8 | |
| Hematology | 4 | ||
| Chemistry/Lab Admin. | 4 | ||
| Microbiology | 4 | ||
| Immunology | 4 | ||
| Research/Elective | 4 | ||
| Vacation/Meetings | 4 | ||
| Coagulation/Hemostasis | 2 | ||
| Total in 4 years | Anatomic Pathology | 28 months | |
| Clinical Pathology | 18 months | ||
| Research/Elective | 2 months | ||
In anatomic pathology, the resident sees a large and diversified amount of material — including approximately 29,500 surgical specimens, 40 autopsies on-site, and 25,000 cytology specimens yearly — including over 3000 non-gyn and 1500 FNA cytology specimens. Residents are given graduated responsibilities in surgical pathology, teaching, frozen section consultation, necropsy, exfoliative cytology, fine-needle aspiration, and endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS) interpretations.
Clinical pathology is taught by board-certified pathologists or one of our clinical PhDs with an emphasis on test interpretation and clinical application, as well as test principles and methodology. Each section of the clinical laboratory is under the supervision of a staff pathologist and/or clinical scientist. The resident is given graduated responsibility with opportunities for hands-on experience, troubleshooting and participation in quality control and lab management.
The clinical laboratories perform over one million laboratory tests per year. Multiple automated chemical profiles are performed in the chemistry section, which also has a full-service toxicology and therapeutic drug monitoring divisions. Handling of this large volume of specimens is facilitated by an Ortho Vitros automation line. In hematology, the Coulter 750 instrument provides automated blood counts and differentials to facilitate the large volume of specimens. Approximately 200 bone marrow examinations are done each year; immunophenotyping analysis of hematologic processes is performed on-site with 10-color flow cytometry. The full-service microbiology laboratory includes top-of-the-line technology across sections for virology, mycology, parasitology, mycobacteria and bacteriology. The immunohematology service provides the system with all of the blood and blood component needs, serving the breadth of surgical services at the hospital, including open-heart surgery. The immunology section provides a wide range of serological and protein assays as well as flow cytometric cell phenotyping and DNA analysis.
