At the end of 2018, I completed the University of Pathology Informatics Certificate of Completion program. This is an online CME/SAM/CE educational program developed jointly by the Association of Pathology Informatics and the American Society of Clinical Pathology. The certificate requires completion of 20 courses for over 25 hours of CME/SAM/CE and the completion of an informatics project.
I found the courses to be engaging and well organized. Some courses were performed by actors but the most interesting courses were given by known pathology informatics experts.
The course has two unique features for a pathology online courses. The first is that it includes an ebook, Pathology Informatics: Theory and Practice by Liron Pantanowitz, MD, J. Mark Tuthill, MD, and Ulysses Balis, MD. Chapters from the book are assigned as background reading for various courses. The book has good material, although I found its retro-computer style font to be hard to read.
The second unique feature is the “Executive Summary” project. In the project, the student is to prepare a concise summary of a pathology or laboratory informatics project for the Executive suite of a hospital or laboratory to recommend a course of action. The project is graded by one of the UPI faculty. My project was the implementation of whole slide imaging for primary diagnosis for a hypothetical urban pathology practice. I really enjoyed the project and it helped crystalize my thinking on the steps and processes needed to implement WSI. I don’t know if completing this course will change one’s career. However, it will certainly help you if your lab is thinking of implementing a new LIS, WSI or a large IT project. I recommend the University of Pathology Informatics Course for those pathologists and laboratorians interested in informatics.
BTW, neither ASCP nor API have asked me for this recommendation.