Laboratory Management for Cytopathology Fellows: Our Institution’s Curriculum

Introduction/Objective The cytopathology laboratory is one of the most highly regulated clinical laboratories. The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) milestones include competencies in laboratory management. Additionally, many cytology fellows will be involved in laboratory management after finishing training. Therefore, it is imperative to incorporate formal laboratory management training for cytology fellows. Our cytopathology department implemented a formal laboratory management curriculum this year, with emphasis placed on the milestones (1.0 and 2.0) provided by the ACGME. Methods/Case Report The curriculum is divided into seven modules extending throughout the fellowship year (August-April). The modules include hand-off communication, process improvement, laboratory accreditation (introduction, intermediate, advanced) and error management (introduction, intermediate). Each module has two components: self-study of assigned reading materials and online courses, followed by an interactive session with faculty and/or laboratory personnel. Several engaging, high-quality resources are used including Institute for Healthcare Improvement Open School, modules from professional organizations, PubMed articles, National Quality Forum, departmental committees and mock inspections. Each module is followed by an interactive session to review policies, procedures and/or checklists. The fellows also spend time in the cytology laboratory preparation area and participate in Quality Improvement meetings. Results (if a Case Study enter NA) The fellowship director discusses the educational expectations at the start of each module. Evidence of compliance is demonstrated by uploading all of the completed assignments to MedHub (a web- based training management system) at the end of the module. All of the modules include self-assessment questions that are reviewed by the fellowship director. Conclusion Our cytopathology laboratory introduced a structured laboratory management curriculum. This curriculum fulfills some of the laboratory management competencies put forth in the ACGME milestones. This curriculum will also help to prepare fellows to confidently participate in cytology laboratory management as they enter the workforce.

Sociological Curiosity: Updating C. Wright Mills

C. Wright Mills’ famous essay, “The Sociological Imagination,” is the most frequently assigned reading in sociology syllabi in the United States today. However, the author of this article began to be concerned that Mills’ essay can seem dated to many. Here, the author stays true to Mills’ original ideas but updates some language and examples.

Extensive Reading: A Multifaceted Panacea for EFL Students at KKU

This research aims to assess the importance of Extensive Reading (ER) in developing reading comprehension, vocabulary development, and speaking fluency among English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at King Khalid University (KKU). Most EFL students appear to be under pressure and confront anxiety while acquiring English language competency in basic language skills. According to MacIntyre and Gardner (1994, p. 284), language anxiety is the "feeling of tension and apprehension" with language learning, including listening, speaking, and language comprehension. One thought of making language learning an enjoyable activity is to make language acquisition a natural process instead of a forced and external one. According to Day & Bamford (2002), the goal of ER is to help students become fluent, independent, and confident readers. ER encourages L2 learners to explore the English language independently, especially in an EFL environment. ER inherently encourages language acquisition by allowing students to read extensively in a relaxed and natural environment, thus developing the basic nuances of the language effortlessly. This approach is also referred as uninterrupted sustained silent reading (USSR). Two distinct groups of students, namely experimental and control groups, will participate in this study. The results will help measure the effect of ER on students’ reading comprehension and speaking fluency. The experimental group will practice effortless ER for almost 12 weeks. Students' performance in the assigned reading task, vocabulary development, and speaking proficiency will be analyzed using SPSS. Finally, the researchers will suggest efficient measures to implement ER as a teaching methodology at the English department, and will also encourage implementation of an ER club at the faculty of languages and translation, KKU. 

Doing the Reading: The Decline of Long Long-Form Reading in Higher Education

Long-form reading of literary and non-literary texts is historically an essential component of education. However, in many schooling contexts, the amount of long-form reading is diminishing. Are digital technologies augmenting this trend? And are these technologies affecting assignments and student reading patterns in other ways? This article begins by arguing for the relevance of long-form reading and then reviews prior research on how much assigned reading students in higher education report completing. With these findings as background, university faculty in the United States and Norway were surveyed to gauge contemporary reading assignments and student reading practices in humanities and social sciences disciplines, which traditionally are reading intensive. Several of the questions focused on the potential impact of technology on reading assignments, including their length and complexity. This exploratory research suggests that digital technologies are contributing to reduced long-form reading in higher education.

Assessing the Reading Skills of the Saudi Elementary Stage EFL Learners

The purpose of this research was to investigate the current practices of assessing L2 reading skills of Saudi EFL elementary stage learners. The research also attempted to offer more effective assessment tools of L2 reading skills than the current ones. For this purpose, a sample of (30) elementary stage EFL classes were observed, and (15) teachers of these classes were interviewed. The collected data were recorded, organized, coded, analyzed, and interpreted qualitatively. The findings revealed that most EFL learners and their instructors practice learning/teaching L2 reading skills driven by exams, focus more on bottom-up approach, and committed to the assigned reading materials ignoring extracurricular ones. Almost all the observations and interviewees’ responses indicated that the assessment measures are affected by the poor learning/teaching practices of the L2 reading skills. It was implied that in order to improve the assessment tools of the L2 reading skills, the teaching practices must be improved first.

Characteristics of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Residency/fellowship Programs: A National Survey

Introduction: The development of postgraduate programs for physician assistants (PAs) began in 1973 and by 2020 there were approximately 100 programs spread across a broad range of medical and surgical disciplines. An assessment of these programs was undertaken. Method: A non-experimental, descriptive research study was designed to obtain information on the characteristics of PA postgraduate education programs in the US. The source of information was from surveyed members of the Association of Postgraduate Physician Assistant Programs. Questions were drawn from consensus discussions. Programs that were operational in 2020 were eligible to participate. Results: Seventy-two programs were invited to the survey and 34 replied. They are geographically distributed across the US in 13 states. The respondents represent a wide range of medicine: surgery, emergency medicine, critical care, orthopaedics, hospitalist, psychiatry, oncology, primary care, pediatrics, and cardiology. Most programs are associated with an academic medical center. The curriculum includes bedside teaching, lectures, mentorship, assigned reading, procedures, simulation, and conferences. The PA fellow serves as house officer alongside physician residents and fellows. An average program length is 12 months and awards a certificate. Stipends for PA fellows are $50,000-80,000 (2020 dollars) and benefits include paid time off, health and liability insurance. About half of the programs bill for the services rendered by the PA. Over 90% of graduates are employed within two months of fellowship completion. Conclusion: A trend is underway in American medicine to include PAs in postgraduate education. PA fellowships occur across a broad spectrum of medical and surgical areas, as well as diverse institutions and organizations overseeing the programs. Most are in academic medical centers or teaching hospitals. This study expands information on PA fellowships and their operation.

Enhancing Parent Engagement While Reading Online and at Home

This chapter reviews how to use online platforms for reading at home while also engaging parents. To better understand parent engagement during assigned reading homework, an exploratory study was conducted with the families of kindergarteners. Parents were asked about their involvement when working on assigned reading homework. The results of the survey indicated that many parents are willing to take time to support their child as they complete homework assignments and that they already read at home, whether it is assigned or not. These findings, along with recent literature, are useful for developing strategies to better engage families during online learning.

Pedagogy of Description. Projective Reading and the Ethics of Interpretation

This essay limns critique’s use of selective or even misleading description to advance ideological commitments, often without drawing explicit attention to those commitments. It posits that this style is especially attractive to identity-based modes of critique that, rather than take an oppositional approach to reading (e.g., reading “against the grain”), enforce a self-identity between the critic and her object. Against this trend, the essay advocates a pedagogy of description that hones the ethics of interpretation at the point of writing about an object’s alterity. It focuses on a graduate seminar experience of teaching ekphrasis first through an assigned reading and then through a writing exercise completed in an actual museum space. Students’ frustration with a critic’s description of certain art works became an opportunity to reflect on their own commitment to writing about objects with care. Building out from that experience, the essay shows how ethics animates post-critique’s embrace of wonder and surprise – in teaching as much as in writing.

THE EFFECTS OF SUMMARIZING USING INFOGRAPHICS ON EFL LEARNERS’ READING COMPREHENSION.

The purpose of this paper is to describe EFL learners’ experiences while using infographics in a reading class. The pedagogical intervention, based on the use of infographic application (Canva) as an alternative tool to help them summarize reading passages, was implemented to enhance their reading comprehension. The data were gathered from teacher’s journal, questionnaires and the results of students’ reading comprehension tests. The findings revealed that the students viewed the use of infographics could motivate and enabled them to summarize the assigned reading topics much easier. In addition, the assignments incorporating the use of infographic application encouraged them to participate actively in English reading activities in a collaborative atmosphere, allow them to develop their creativity and raise positive attitudes toward the role of technological tools in educational settings.Keywords: English reading, infographics, reading comprehension

Investigating Reading Proficiency: A Case Study of a Moroccan High School

The present study explores students’ primary concerns, perceptions, difficulties and attitudes characterized by a sheer lack of motivation towards reading. It also demonstrates how a language teacher can prosper in his/her own undertaking to bring about a community of readers with a want to read. This study covers an important comparison between students of three different levels, namely Common Core, First and Second year Baccalaureate. Likewise, it tries to explore the extent to which unmotivated readers are prone to meet the challenges all along the assigned reading tasks. A questionnaire was designed for analyzing the barriers towards attaining reading proficiency. It was also geared to determine the things that should be done to overcome the obstacles towards achieving the aspired reading competence. The results from this study imply that there is reason to suggest the need to develop a want in students to read via breathing life into comprehension texts presented to students. This can be done through integrating more illustrations and key vocabulary rubrics. Equally important, reading texts in students’ textbooks need to be given due importance, and dedicated efforts are to be considered on the part of textbook designers to help students attain and boost their reading skills. Reading, if done extensively, helps develop the reader’s reading competence and ultimately becomes an essential tool for academic success.