Hot Seat/Tumor Board Rotation

Hotseat

The hotseat portion of the rotation seeks to provide the resident an opportunity to rapidly review histology from a large number of anatomic pathology cases in a general format. Residents will spend time, as their schedule around tumor board commitments allows, in histology, intercepting cases after they have been assembled, and before the cases are dispatched to their respective staff pathologists. The resident on the hotseat rotation will review no more than two slides from any given case, with no more than 1 minute per slide, to provide an initial diagnosis for that case. This process should not impede the ability of cases to be delivered to staff pathologists. The target number of cases to review per day will increase with each PGY year, as the resident’s breadth and depth of knowledge increases.

Tumor Board

Participation in multidisciplinary tumor boards is one of the primary functions of a pathologist and represents a key opportunity for interfacing with the other members of the clinical care team, as well as learning about the clinical importance of the work they do. The tumor board rotation is a four-week experience that each resident participates in annually. Its purpose is to give residents concentrated experience in reviewing complicated surgical pathology cases, identifying relevant clinical features, abstracting them for presentation, and interacting with surgeons, oncologists, and other members of the care team. Residents also have the chance to directly answer critical questions from the team, which directly impacts patient care.