Teaching medical pathology in the twenty-first century: virtual microscopy applications

Virtual microscopy (VM) has been implemented and evaluated in the histology and general and systemic pathology courses at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. Advantages of VM over traditional microscopy include accessibility and efficiency of learning and the ability to integrate VM with computer-assisted interactive learning. Advantages of using VM as opposed to digital photomicrographs include the ability to pan and zoom, explore the slide, and make independent observations. Although VM is used in a case-based format for teaching histopathology to medical students at the University of Iowa, VM may also be effectively implemented in other medical-student teaching models, including integrated and problem-based learning curricula and the classical pathology laboratory. Additional Iowa venues and courses using VM teaching include pathology of human disease for bioscience graduate students, cytology education, a comparative pathology research resource, and histology and histopathology for veterinary medicine. This article reviews the history and evolution of VM in medical pathology and its implementation at Iowa.