Swiss virtual animal pathology: www.animalpatho.org

Abstract

The pedagogical challenge to the teaching veterinary pathologist is ntegrating visuallybased learning with in depth understanding of disease mechanisms. This process is heavily image dependent, didactically best taught in a highly interactive manner. To achieve this, the teaching of pathology within the curriculum of veterinary medicine or human medicine is divided into two major areas: General pathology deals with principles of disease processes as a basis for understanding the reactions of a multi-cellular organism to adverse effects from within the organism itself or from the environment. Specific pathology, building on the principles of general pathology, explains the malfunctions of individual organ systems and relates them to disease processes of a patient as a whole. To meet the needs of swiss students of veterinary medicine, and those of advanced students specializing in pathology and studying for the European Board qualification (European College of Veterinary Pathology, ECVP), we are developing this new integrated online e-learning platform in veterinary pathology (http://www.animalpatho.org). In the near future, we hope this will also serve an international audience of veterinary pathologists.