Extending the gift-utilizing residual human anatomical materials for training Pathologists' Assistants in surgical pathology techniques.

This study investigates the effectiveness of using residual human anatomical materials, obtained from a gross anatomy course, for training Pathologists' Assistant (PathA) students in surgical pathology techniques. We utilized two surveys to assess the perceived efficacy of this approach: one survey targeted PathA students to evaluate their training experiences with both human and animal tissues, while the other assessed the impact of specimen collection on the educational experiences of gross anatomy course students.

Entry-Level Expectations for Pathologists' Assistants.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess expectations of performance that exist in the marketplace for entry-level pathologists' assistants (PathAs), defined as recent graduates of a pathologists' assistant program on their first day of employment.

Methods: A voluntary, anonymous survey was distributed to pathologist and PathA members of the American Society for Clinical Pathology by email. We assessed 98 professional activities of PathAs using a 5-point scale of expectations based on levels of trust placed in them.

Collection protocol for human pancreas.

This dissection and sampling procedure was developed for the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes (nPOD) program to standardize preparation of pancreas recovered from cadaveric organ donors. The pancreas is divided into 3 main regions (head, body, tail) followed by serial transverse sections throughout the medial to lateral axis. Alternating sections are used for fixed paraffin and fresh frozen blocks and remnant samples are minced for snap frozen sample preparations, either with or without RNAse inhibitors, for DNA, RNA, or protein isolation.