Pathology Education Outreach

We assist in teaching and examination of the Pathology Postgraduate Diploma and Masters Program at the Fiji National University (FNU) in Suva. Fellows have been involved in the development of this Program from its inception all the way to obtaining University Senate approval.

Initially designed for the Fijian trainees, the program is now open to trainees from other regional countries. The success of the program depends on RCPA Fellows travelling to Fiji to deliver the teaching of the program. We are always looking for Fellows who wish to participate in the teaching of the program.

Although a former colony of Australia and only 5km from its closest point, PNG has major challenges, especially in healthcare (in some areas among the worst in the world).

Fellows assist in teaching and as external examiners at the University of Papua New Guinea. We also undertake teleconferenced microbiology tutorials and have major input into Infectious disease and microbiology projects.

We need more Fellows to participate in teaching and to assist in external examinations. The PNG College of Pathology was established in 2015 and they have expressed interest in collaborating with the RCPA.

Work to build local microbiology laboratory capacity continues. Training and infection control workshops are on-going. Antibiotic workshops for pharmacists have been held and hospital wide point prevalence survey conducted. We continue to work with the local scientists to improve skills, with a strong focus on quality control.

A new Pacific Region Infectious Disease Association has been formed to focus on all aspects of infectious disease management - microbiology laboratory capacity building, management of infections, antimicrobial resistance and infection control.

Vanuatu recently appointed its first fully qualified local pathologist. Currently, Vanuatu has a small laboratory in Port Vila that undertakes haematology and histopathology. Surgical specimens were previously sent to the Gold Coast Hospital in Australia due to lack of funding, and this has now stopped. The histopathology laboratory needs upgrading to make it fully functional.

Like Vanuatu, Samoa and other South Pacific nations face similar problems. Their pathology laboratory services are under-resourced. Many countries, eg Solomon Islands, and Vanuatu, have only one consultant pathologist, whilst others like Samoa and Tonga have senior registrars and only intermittent consultant support. Other countries like Kiribati and Tuvalu have no trained medical pathologists at all and send all their specimens to Australia.

Working as a lone pathologist in such settings can be extremely demanding, since pathologists often need a colleague to ask for second opinions on difficult cases, and cover leaves of absence. Retaining a pathologist in these conditions is often difficult, and some trained local pathologists end up leaving their countries or moving into administration or other specialties.

RCPA Fellows deliver transfusion medicine training courses in Vietnam. These courses are usually held in two different locations with two days in each location and each session is attended by more than 100 participants.

The focus here is on Microbiology, Haematology, Transfusion and Anatomical Pathology laboratory capacity building. Support is provided by the Flinders Overseas Health Group.

We are helping to establish a new Cerebrospinal Fluid and Blood Culture service for the National Laboratory. A Scientist mentorship/exchange program is being undertaken from Darwin hospital. The activities are supported by the Menzies School of Health Research ‘Stronger Systems for Health Security Program’.

The focus is on microbiology laboratory capacity building.

We assist in the teaching of microbiology laboratory staff and Antimicrobial Stewardship at the Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital in Thimphu.