Introduction: The aim of the present article is to describe how Anatomical Pathology is taught in 'C Course' undergraduate Curriculum and to outline the benefits of such an organization.
Setting analysis: 'C Course' is one of the six undergraduate curricula in Medicine within Sapienza University of Rome, focused on integrated teaching and medical education activities.
Original experience: In 'C Course', the learning objectives of Anatomical Pathology have been subdivided in four areas: i) an 'early contact' aimed to provide a 'clinical trigger' to students learning basic sciences; ii) a methodological background intended to help students understand the role of pathology in the comprehension of disease mechanisms; iii) the full body of systemic pathology, taught within inter-disciplinary courses devoted to each apparatus; iv) a latest approach, aimed to explain the role of anatomical pathology in diagnosis, grading and staging of tumours, and in the detection of predictive markers.
Discussion: Our teaching organization represents a unusual experience in the Italian setting, allowing students to grasp the concept that anatomical pathology can give many contributions to their overall formation: as a trigger for basic sciences, as a central way of understanding etiology, behavior, and diagnostic pathways, and to predict the outcome of any disease, and as a powerful diagnostic and prognostic means to guide therapy. This approach is well perceived by students, whose questionnaires gave the course an above average score, and offers a valuable output in term of students' knowledge, as assessed by their performance in the area of Anatomical Pathology in the National Progress Test.