Implementation of the Diagnostic Pathfinder, an Internet-Based Tool to Teach Clinical Pathology in Diverse Educational Settings

Those of us who teach clinical pathology to veterinary students are continually exploring more effective ways to help students master the application of laboratory medicine to the solution of clinical problems. We not only must teach students the pathophysiologic basis of disease as applied to clinical laboratory data, but we also must instill a diagnostic reasoning process that is consistent and reliable. This reasoning process must be successful when applied to both common and uncommon diseases in multiple species, and also must be suitable for characterizing emerging diseases. Many of us have successfully used mechanism-based instruction to teach diagnostic reasoning, rather than presenting lists of facts and relying upon students to rote memorize