Feedback...

Feedback varies depending on the surgical pathology rotation. At the VA we see the slides made from our sections the day after they are cut in during slide sign out. It is good because we can see how our sections look microscopically while we're there and the pathologist can give real time constructive criticism. At Duke the staff PA we are with for the week looks over our dictations after we edit them and write corrections (if needed!), which is really helpful.

We have case assessment forms that we can submit for the pathologists and residents to fill out on specific cases. Our goal is to get two forms back a week, some weeks are better than others for actually getting the forms back. The VA is pretty fantastic in that regard because the residents and pathologists can fill the forms out at slide sign out, or are really approachable if you're following up on a case (the downside being that to get a copy of your dictations, you have to get someone with VA computer access to print it off for you. They're really nice and accommodating about it though!). It can be a little tougher at Duke to get your forms back since we are more removed from the pathologists. Hard copies are easy to misplace or set aside for later and forget about too! Not to say that we don't get any of them back, but it is generally a good idea to send out a few extras just to be extra sure that you get enough feedback. And, having more than the minimum number of assessments returned is a good thing since it means getting feedback from a wider variety of pathologists.

I've sent out five this week, which feels excessive but I've had some interesting cases.