National Pathology Week Schools Event - Hands on Pathology: Understanding Disease’

On the 16th November 2016, as part of National Pathology Week, The Centre for Comparative Pathology at the University of Edinburgh (which includes both medical and veterinary pathologists) held a public engagement event for invited schools called "Hands on Pathology: Understanding Disease".

Forty-eight school students, aged 16 and 17, plus their teachers, came from 11 Lothian schools to the Pathology Department of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies at the Easter Bush Campus for the afternoon. The students were split into four groups and rotated around four different activities. The first activity was in the veterinary necropsy room, where they watched the post-mortem dissection of a sheep, including examination of the individual organs. Pupils were also given the opportunity to handle organs, such as kidney, liver and heart. The second activity was in the Dissection Room, where they were able to handle pre-prepared dissected specimens, showing abnormalities such as metastatic melanoma in an equine kidney, congenital hydrocephalus in a lamb, cirrhosis in a dog and bovine amorphous globosus. Thirdly, they congregated around a multi-headed microscope where, under the guidance of a pathologist, the pupils and teachers were able to view glass slides of blood films, cytological preparations and histopathological sections showing a range of pathological abnormalities. The fourth group worked on a microbiological laboratory identification exercise. They were monitoring the health of a flock of sheep by estimating the amount of parasitic worms they are carrying. They were given faeces samples from the flock, prepared the sample and carried out a faecal egg count in a McMasters slide to ascertain whether the flock needed treatment for parasitic worms or not. The afternoon concluded with a series of three 10 minute presentations by pathologists on their career in medical pathology, veterinary pathology and veterinary public health and how there career path developed. The also gave information on how to enter these careers. The students and teachers provided strongly positive feedback. Of the pupils 83% rated the day ‘excellent’ and the other 17% ‘good’ while 100% of the teachers rated it ‘excellent’. Comments from the students included, ‘I loved the day and it was very informative’, ‘It gave great insight into what I want to do career wise’, ‘I really enjoyed it, it will also help me to understand biology’ ‘Amazed – I loved the trip’ Really interesting event, I found it helpful and educational’. The teachers’ responses included: ‘fantastic’, ‘amazing’ ‘A good understanding of how our curriculum links to real life pathology’, ‘ pupils gained great advice on different career paths’ and ‘excellent event’. One pupil wrote ‘this event has opened my eyes and has made me see Pathology in a new light. I thank you for having me and allowing me to have an incredible experience’.