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- Title
Living in a virtual reality: A cross-over study comparing resident examination performance with traditional and virtual microscopy.
- Authors
Andrews, Alicia R.; Baniak, Nick; Taraboanta, Catalin; Bromley, Amy; Hickey, Tyler; Kinloch, Marilyn
- Abstract
Introduction: Digital images (static images and virtual microscopy) are becoming commonplace in resident evaluation. The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada changed their pathology examinations to an alldigital format in 2017, and many residency programs utilize digital images for internal examinations. The skills for evaluating virtual and glass slides are different, and concerns have been raised as to whether virtual microscopybased examinations yield representative evaluations of residents. We hypothesize that there is no difference in resident performance between the two modalities, given that overall their similarities outweigh their differences. Objective: To compare resident performance in traditional versus virtual microscopy examinations. Methods: Residents from all post-graduate years, at three Canadian pathology residency programs, participated in this cross-over study. Sites were assigned to either traditional or virtual microscopy for the first of two slide examinations (25 slides, two minutes per slide). For the second sitting, the examination modalities were reversed. The data from each sitting were analysed by Wilcoxon Two-Sample Test, using SAS 9.4. Data and results: Twenty-nine residents sat the first examination: 11 virtual (mean score 9.5/25, SD 4.3) and 18 traditional (mean score 11.8/25, SD 6.0), p = 0.38. Twenty-eight residents sat the second examination: 16 virtual (mean score 11.1/24, SD 4.9) and 12 traditional (mean score 12.2/24, SD 4.9), p = 0.40. All score distributions were non-Gaussian. Conclusions: Our study shows no statistical difference in resident performance when examined using glass slides or virtual microscopy. This finding supports the use of digital images for resident evaluation.
- Subjects
VIRTUAL microscopy; VIRTUAL reality; DIGITAL image processing; PATHOLOGY; DATA analysis
- Publication
Canadian Journal of Pathology, 2018, Vol 10, p21
- ISSN
1918-915X
- Publication type
Article