About the Programme
MD in Pathology at Sharda University is a three-year postgraduate degree related to the field of medicine and diagnostics (the study of disease). Pathology is the branch of science which concentrates on the effects, processes, development and causes of diseases. The curriculum includes subjects like Pathology, Microbiology, Immunology, Medical Genetics, and Neuroscience. The programme addresses the central three components of disease – the cause, mechanism of development or origin, results of changes. The branch deals with the research of diagnostic, testing and treatment methods with the help of genetic technologies for patient care and prevention of diseases.
The programme aims to train students to perform high-quality diagnosis in any specified clinical condition using appropriate and proper samples of tissue, blood, body fluid, etc., and recommend treatment options based on the diagnosis. This enables students to pursue clinical and laboratory-based research helping them in research-based studies on terminal diseases. MD Pathology course also encourages students to develop their competence to diagnose necessary pathological conditions in various fields such as histopathology, cytopathology, haematology, and immunopathology.
Program Educational Objectives (PEO)
The learning objectives in the cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains are:
Cognitive Domain
PEO1. Diagnose routine and complex clinical problems on the basis of histopathology (surgical pathology) and cytopathology specimens, blood and bone marrow examination and various tests of Laboratory Medicine (clinical pathology, clinical biochemistry) as well as Blood Banking (Transfusion Medicine).
PEO2. Interpret and correlate clinical and laboratory data so that clinical manifestations of diseases can be explained.
PEO3. Correlate clinical and laboratory findings with pathology findings at autopsy, identify miscorrelations and the causes of death due to diseases (apart from purely metabolic causes).
PEO4. Should be able to teach Pathology to undergraduates, postgraduates, nurses and paramedical staff including laboratory personnel.
PEO5. Plan, execute, analyse and present research work.
PEO6. Make and record observations systematically and maintain accurate records of tests and their results for reasonable periods of time. Identify problems in the laboratory, offer solutions thereof and maintain a high order of quality control.
PEO7. Capable of safe and effective disposal of laboratory waste.
Affective Domain
PEO8. Should be able to function as a part of a team, develop an attitude of cooperation with colleagues, and interact with the patient and the clinician or other colleagues to provide the best possible diagnosis or opinion.
PEO9. Develop communication skills to word reports and professional opinion as well as to interact with patients, relatives, peers and paramedical staff, and for effective teaching.
Psychomotor Domain
PEO10. Able to perform routine tests in a Pathology Laboratory including grossing of specimens, processing, cutting of paraffin and frozen sections, making smears, and staining.
PEO11. Able to collect specimens by routinely performing non-invasive out-patient procedures such as venipuncture, finger-prick, fine needle aspiration of superficial lumps and bone-marrow aspirates, and provide appropriate help to colleagues performing an invasive procedure such as a biopsy or an imaging guided biopsy.
- Program Outcomes (PO’s)
Cognitive domain
A post graduate student upon successfully qualifying in the MD (Pathology) examination should have acquired the following broad theoretical competencies and should be:
PO1. Capable of offering a high quality diagnostic opinion in a given clinical situation with an appropriate and relevant sample of tissue, blood, body fluid, etc. for the purpose of diagnosis and overall wellbeing of the ill.
PO2. Able to teach and share his knowledge and competence with others. The student should be imparted training in teaching methods in the subject which may enable the student to take up teaching assignments in Medical Colleges/Institutes.
PO3. Capable of pursuing clinical and laboratory based research. He/she should be introduced to basic research methodology so that he/she can conduct fundamental and applied research.
Affective domain
PO4. The student will show integrity, accountability, respect, compassion and dedicated patient care. The student will demonstrate a commitment to excellence and continuous professional development.
PO5. The student should demonstrate a commitment to ethical principles relating to providing patient care, confidentiality of patient information and informed consent.
PO6. The student should show sensitivity and responsiveness to patients’ culture, age, gender and disabilities.
Psychomotor domain At the end of the course, the student should have acquired skills, as described below:
PO7. Given the clinical and operative data, the student should be able to identify, and systematically and accurately describe the chief gross anatomic alterations in the surgically removed specimens and be able to correctly diagnose at least 80% of the lesions received on an average day from the surgical service of an average teaching hospital.
PO8. Independently prepare and stain good quality smears for cytopathologic examination
PO9. Describe accurately the morphologic findings in the peripheral and bone marrow smears, identifying and quantitating the morphologic abnormalities in disease states and arriving at a correct diagnosis in at least 90% of the cases referred to the Haematology clinic, given the relevant clinical data
PO10. Be able to perform immuno-histochemical staining using paraffin section with at least one of the commonly used antibodies (Cytokeratin or LCA) using PAP method