Histopathology is relatively unique amongst medical specialities with almost 100% of what we do as trainees for our educational benefit.  On a daily basis trainees spend considerable time with consultants and senior trainees.

ST1 Teaching

In the ST1 year there is teaching in the form of:

Block teaching weeks

There are three one week residential courses, which provide an introduction to Histopathology and later provide help with preparation for the OSPE.

Day Release Programme

8-10 days of teaching are arranged within the region, to provide trainees with a basic framework to approach most major specialities.

ST2 – ST5 Teaching

The West Midlands FRCPath course prepares trainees for the part 2 examination.  There is a 3-yearly rolling programme in place, comprising day teaching sessions held around once a month. Most hospitals host teaching at their own site and so the location does rotate. Birmingham-based hospitals tend to do their teaching at the Birmingham Cytology Training Centre within the Birmingham Women's Hospital.

Slides for specialist sessions are previewed prior to the session taking place. This is done by scanning the slides in and trainees can review them on their work or home computers. During the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic all teaching is being undertaken remotely via video conferencing software.

Black box

This is an informal intra departmental meeting where consultants go through interesting cases with trainees.  Trainees describe what they see, formulate a differential diagnosis and answer questions posed by consultants.

Other courses

There are many other courses run by the ACP, Pathological Society, BDIAP and other pathological societies.

Website Updated 08.07.2021