title: Progress toward improved leadership and management training in pathology.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Competency gaps in leadership and laboratory management skills continue to exist between what training programs deliver and what recent graduates and future employers expect. A number of recent surveys substantiate this. Interest in delivering content in these areas is challenged by time constraints, the presence of knowledgeable faculty role models, and the necessary importance placed on diagnostic skills development, which overshadows any priority trainees have toward developing these skills.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To describe the problem, the near-future horizon, the current solutions, and the recommendations for improving resident training in laboratory management.
  
  
  METHODS
  The demands of new health care delivery models and the value being placed on these skills by the Pathology Milestones and Next Accreditation System initiative of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education for training programs emphasizes their importance. This initiative includes 6 milestone competencies in laboratory management. Organizations like the American Society for Clinical Pathology, the American Pathology Foundation, the College of American Pathologists, and the Association of Pathology Chairs Program Directors Section recognize these competencies and are working to create new tools for training programs to deploy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is our recommendation that (1) every training program develop a formal educational strategy for management training, (2) greater opportunity and visibility be afforded for peer-reviewed publications on management topics in mainstream pathology literature, and (3) pathology milestones-oriented tools be developed to assist program directors and their trainees in developing this necessary knowledge and skills.
authors.affiliation: From the Department of Pathology, ARUP Laboratories, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (Dr Weiss); the Department of Pathology, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City (Dr Hassell); and the American Society for Clinical Pathology, Chicago, Illinois (Dr Parks).
authors.forename: Ronald L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Weiss
authors.forename: Lewis A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Hassell
authors.forename: Eric R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Parks
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003479:Curriculum; D006801:Humans; D007396:Internship and Residency; D007753:Laboratories / Q000458:organization & administration; D007857:Leadership; D010336:Pathology / Q000193:education* / Q000458:organization & administration; D012955:Societies, Medical; D014481:United States