The Teaching of Organ Pathology in European Undergraduate Programs in Medicine, II

Abstract

History At the IX European Congress of Pathology in Hamburg in 1982 the European Societyof Pathology set up a working group on the undergraduate teaching of pathology in Europe. New ideas and teaching methods were discussed, and some of the main problems facing pathology teachers were taken up. The group formulated a set of educational objectives for teaching pathology, outlined the subject contents and number of teaching hours necessary to achieve these objectives, and discussed at what point during the medical course the teaching should take place. These proposals were published as a article in Path Res Pract 178, 518–519, 1984. At the X European Congress in Athens in 198S, we considered the teaching ofgeneral pathology in European undergraduate education programs in medicine. Subject contents, time, place, teaching methods and the construction of a syllabus guide for general pathology were discussed and defined in detail. The results of this discussion were published in Path Res Pract 181, 365–369, 1986. In two symposia in Porto in 1989 we concentrated on the teaching of organpathology as a separate subject, apart from general pathology. We discussed teaching methods and the length of time that should be allotted to specific organs. The organs and systems that were discussed in detail were the heart and blood vessels, the respiratory system, the bone marrow, the blood and lymphoreticular tissues, the alimentary tract and pancreas, the liver and biliary tract, and the kidneys and urinary tract. We had planned a fourth symposium to deal with the remaining parts of organpathology at the XIII Congress in Ljubljana in 1991, into which Professor Dusan Ferluga and his colleagues put a great deal of work. Unfortunately, the congress had to be cancelled. At the XIV Congress in Innsbruck in 1993 we completed our discussion on organpathology, and our suggestions and conclusion are given below. In addition, we suggested a forthcoming symposium on examination forms to be held in Copenhagen in 1995, as part of the XV Congress.