Online CME: Pathology/Laboratory Medicine
Last Updated March 31, 2008.

Special Notice!! Looking for reviewers to help keep the List up-to-date.

The sites described on this page are primarily concerned with pathology and laboratory medicine. You may find additional online CME sites and courses with pathology and laboratory medicine content at the main online CME site.

American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP) Check Sample Exercises
Last visited....6/2006.
Credit hours...1.0 per exercise (total of 141 hours); also 3 courses = 4 hours.
Awarded by....American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP).
Cost............$22 each for members; $25 each for non-members.
Instruction Type....Text-Only (pdf).
Target Audiences....PATH.
Educational material last updated...2006.
Financial Support...American Society for Clinical Pathology (ASCP).

Choose "Case Studies" (bottom of page) to find 141 active Check Sample exercises available online. These exercises are from the last two years of Check Sample programs. There are exercises in the following disciplines: Chemistry, Cytology, Forensic Pathology, Hematology, Histology, Microbiology, Molecular Diagnostics, Surgical Pathology, and Transfusion Medicine. You will also find 3 courses: Lymphocyte Disorders in Blood and Bone Marrow in Children and Adults; Fine Needle Aspiration Cytopathology of Lymph Nodes; and New Aspects of Cardiac Risk Factors.

Armed Forces Institute of Pathology Online Urologic Pathology
Last visited....7/2006.
Credit hours....5.0 each (Total of 10 hours).
Awarded by....AFIP.
Cost...........$50 for each course.
Instruction Type....Text-and-Graphics.
Target Audiences....PATH, URO.
Educational material last updated....2/00.
Financial Support...None Stated.

These are the first two sections, Bladder Pathology and Lesions of the Penis and Urethra of a course primarily for urologists preparing for board examinations and for practicing urologists and pathologists. "On each content page, the participant sees a text description of the light microscopic recognition of specific disease processes, and where appropriate, additional comments about necessary special stains and immunohistochemistry. Following the text, the participant sees several images with captions that illustrate the important features discussed. With a single click on an image, the participant can see a full-size version of an image with its caption."

Armed Forces Virtual Gastrointestinal Endoscopic Biopsy Course (bottom of page)
Last visited...7/2006.
Credit hours...2.0 per module (total of 10 hours).
Awarded by....AFIP.
Cost for Credit....$25.
Instruction Type....Text-and-Graphics.
Target Audiences....PATH, GI.
Educational material last updated...11/01.
Financial Support...None Stated.

This course is presented by the Division of Gastrointestinal Pathology, AFIP. The course has 5 modules; each module consists of eight cases with a brief case history and a set of microscopic slides of an endoscopic biopsy.

Forensic Drug Abuse Advisor (FDAA)
Last visited...3/2008.
Credit hours...13.0.
Awarded by...American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and the Forensic Drug Abuse Advisor.
Cost.........$197.
Instruction Type....Text-Only.
Target Audience....PATH.
Educational material last updated....Monthly.
Financial Support...None Stated.

After reading and studying these articles, you should be able to: Identify the latest developments in the forensic toxicology of abused drugs; Interpret recent developments in drug-related forensic pathology; Describe new techniques and new regulations in workplace drug testing including: hair, urine, sweat, and saliva; Evaluate which products are appropriate for use in pre-employment and on-site testing; Discuss and explain the medical consequences of drug abuse; Identify and explain newly discovered problems with existing testing modalities; Explain new techniques and approaches in forensic drug testing methodology; Analyze the pitfalls, difficulties, and unique problems associated with postmortem toxicology; Define the issues associated with Doping in Sports (Drugs in Sports) including: testosterone, anabolic steroids, erythropoietin, human growth hormones, etc., and the problems of detection; and Identify and rank the current trends in drug use in various parts of the country.

Journalbytes Pathology
Last visited...6/2006.
Credit hours...36 per year (3.0 per month).
Awarded by.... Johns Hopkins.
Cost...............$240 per year.
Instruction Type...Most is Text-Only; some Audio.
Target Audience...PATH.
Educational material updated monthly.
Financial Support...None Stated.
Expiration of CME credit...Two years after date of publication. 

Each issue contains a variety of types of presentations: Literature Reviews; Critical Discussion and Commentary; Vital Topic; Audio Reviews; Tables of Contents from Key Journals; and an E-quiz offering 3.0 CME credit-hours. 

LabCorp CME
Last visited...1/2008.
Credit hours...1.0 hour. (Total of 3 hours).
Awarded by....LabCorp.
Cost for Credit....$10.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics.
Target Audiences....PATH.
Educational material last updated...3/06.
Financial support....LabCorp.

pdf articles on laboratory issues. Subjects include: Genetic Causes of Male Infertility; and When Good Food Makes You Sick, Part 2: Food Allergy. To receive credit, print and mail the answer sheet along with your check.

LabUniversity
Last visited...6/2006.
Credit hours...30+.
Awarded by....University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health.
Cost for Credit....$25 per credit hour, discounts available based on affiliation with ACP, AAFP, COLA.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics
Target Audiences....Physician with laboratory in practice office.
Educational material last updated...Ongoing.
Financial support....(formerly the Commission on Laboratory Accreditation).

The courses provide education in two focus areas. Topics to meet the educational qualification requirements under Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments ’88 (CLIA) to be a laboratory director of a moderate complexity laboratory include Lab Director Responsibilities, Quality Control Basics, Quality Assessment Basics, Proficiency Testing, Personnel Requirements, and OSHA. Topics introducing Quality Management Systems and Quality System Essentials in laboratory practices include: Introduction to Quality Systems, Bringing CLIA and QMS Together, Process Flowcharting, The Quality Manual, and individual courses on each of the 12 Quality System Essentials (QSE).

Medscape Pathology and Lab Medicine
Last visited...11/2006.
Credit hours...Varies from time to time.
Awarded by....Medscape and many other sponsoring organizations.
Cost...........Free.
Instruction Type...Text-and-Graphics, Text-Only, Slide-Audio Lecture, Slide-Video Lecture and Case-Based-Interactive.
Target Audiences....PATH.
Educational material last updated...New activities posted frequently.
Financial Support...Many academic, specialty, and commercial sources as well as WebMD.
Expiration of CME Credit...Credit for most activities expires one year after posting.

CME activities of special interest to pathologists. This section is a joint effort between Medscape and the American Society for Clinical Pathology. It contains a variety of educational formats:
CONFERENCE COVERAGE - Reports of  advances presented at major medical conferences; typically includes several tracks with news stories, expert interviews, and in-depth topic overviews.
CLINICAL UPDATE - Comprehensive original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
FAST TRACK CLINICAL UPDATE – Narrowly focused original review article on scientific advances in a clinical topic.
CME-LIVE - Real-time online events with streaming video, synchronized visuals, and interactive questions and answers; archived for 1 year.
NEWS-CME - Daily reports of major current medical research articles; 0.25 credits each
JOURNAL CME - Articles selected from a wide selection of conference reports and peer-reviewed journals, including MedscapeGeneralMedicine (MedGenMed).
SPECIAL REPORT CME – Topic-based monthly email newsletter distributed to Medscape’s professional member database by specialty.
INTERACTIVE PATIENT CASES – Original CME activity presented to the physician in an interactive, clinical case-based format. 
CME CIRCLE – Multimedia content certified by other accredited professional education providers, typically from live symposia or monographs, and then posted on Medscape and archived for one year.

PILOT (Pulmonary fibrosis Identification: Lessons for Optimizing Treatment)
Last Visited...3/2007.
Credit Hours: 30.
Awarded by...The France Foundation.
Cost….Free.
Instruction Type…Slide-Only, Case-Based-Interactive, Point of Care
Target Audiences…PULM, RAD, PATH.
Educational material last updated….Monthly.
Financial Support…InterMune.
CME Credit Expires...December 2007.

PILOT focuses on the early diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and disease intervention and management. There are three sections:
PILOT Interactive Cases (6 credits);
PILOT Compendium (4 credits); and
CO-PILOT Point of Care CME (up to 20 credits).
To receive CME credit, print the CME application and evaluation form, and fax or mail it to The France Foundation.

Return to the Annotated List of Online CME (All Specialties)

This list was compiled by Bernard M. Sklar, MD, MS