Microscopy in Medical School

[MichaelRW]

I was wondering if there are any medical schools out there that require medical students to have there own compound microscopes... y'know similar to how some require a specific type/brand of laptop computer. If so, what would be a fair scope to buy without spending over $1000??

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[RogueUnicorn]

that would be very strange..

 

[CaliGirl14]

Why on earth would you need a microscope in med school?

 

[MichaelRW]

Ive been looking at several vendors and some of them are advertising a few of there scopes as "meeting school requirements for medical students" ... or something to that effect suggesting that they sell quite a few microscopes to medical students

 

[DrBowtie]

Why on earth would you need a microscope in med school?

Really? You know for Histology, Microbiology and Pathology.

Most schools either don't use scopes and only use computer images or will have you rent a microscope.

 

[MichaelRW]

Really? You know for Histology, Microbiology and Pathology.

Most schools either don't use scopes and only use computer images or will have you rent a microscope.

thank you for a response composed of worthy insight

 

[Augustus]

oops mistake

 

[plauto]

my school, like several others, uses the "virtual microscope." Basically, it's an online software where the slide is there and you are provided with zoom and move buttons to look at the whole slide. This is excellent for histo because you are guaranteed a slide where you can actually see something otherwise hard to find and allows you to get familiar with using the microscope without the drawbacks and waste of time.

 

[Myuu]

my school, like several others, uses the "virtual microscope." Basically, it's an online software where the slide is there and you are provided with zoom and move buttons to look at the whole slide. This is excellent for histo because you are guaranteed a slide where you can actually see something otherwise hard to find and allows you to get familiar with using the microscope without the drawbacks and waste of time.

God, do I hate VM. It's better than having a box of 80 million slides to manage (and your own scope), but only marginally so.

 

[kami333]

I'm the reverse, I hate microscopes. My eye lashes get in my view and it drives me crazy. Which is bad considering I sometimes spend the whole day looking through them (doing dissections).

 

[chicubsfan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think UIC requires students to own microscopes... Pretty rare in this day and age!

 

[d1ony5u5]

Some schools do ask for a microscope, but they usually rent it to the student. I think they are pretty basic microscopes, like around $200.

Of note, this practice is on its way out, being replaced by VM. This mostly due to the fact that recent regulations make it difficult to replace damaged specimens.

 

[plauto]

God, do I hate VM. It's better than having a box of 80 million slides to manage (and your own scope), but only marginally so.

really? I liked it a lot. Only caveat is that you need a decent internet connection or it takes too long for the images to download.

 

[Myuu]

really? I liked it a lot. Only caveat is that you need a decent internet connection or it takes too long for the images to download.

I think the particular variant we use has too many issues. That's perfectly ignorable if you're doing the regular MD histology portions, but if you've also got a grad histology course on the side, it makes things untenable. But there are a number of patent-related issues preventing innovation to make that better, so I suppose it's unavoidable.