Digital Versus Conventional Teaching of Surgical Pathology: A Comparative Study.

Objective: To compare the digital method and the conventional method of teaching surgical pathology to medical students.

Methods: A prospective case-control study was conducted on second-year students during the period of August 20, 2022, through January 15, 2023. Students, divided into two groups of 45 each, were taught surgical pathology via both conventional and digital methods. Four specimens and four slides were taught in total to the same set of students. A pre-test and a post-test were used to evaluate students' performance and the impact of the teaching method. The answers were analyzed using a paired t-test. In the end, students' responses were obtained regarding their views on a better method of teaching on a Likert scale.

Results: To study gross pathology, 50.7% of students were in favor of the digital method, and 21% were not in favor. For the microscopic examination of tissues, 56.92% of students were in favor of the digital method, and 15% were not in favor. There was a significant increase in post-test scores (12.54-9.79 = 2.75, p=0.007) when digital methods for teaching surgical pathology were applied.

Conclusion: The Likert scale demonstrated that the digital method of teaching surgical pathology not only improved student performance but also resulted in a better understanding of the subject.