Freaked out by an attending (abt. jobs)

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Primate

Senior Member
7+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
20+ Year Member
Joined
May 13, 2003
Messages
697
Reaction score
4
So there I was, face to face with the beast - an attending physician - when.......

I went down to path yesterday to get the results on some cytology and started chatting with the attending about pathology in general. He managed to FREAK ME OUT in under 1 minute (hard to do at all, let alone that fast). He said that while path is very interesting, he wouldn't go near it today. Too many people, not enough jobs; double boarded applicants s/p fellowship that can't find work; one pathologist at the VA doing 20,000 cases a year (is this even possible?); vastly decreased reimbursements as path is not "procedural." This list went on, but that's enough (I'm getting chills).

Anyone care to comment on these dire predictions? Anyone know what the job market is like this year (for real) and what it's projected to be? Could the hours/conditions get that bad (20k cases/person/year)? I thought path was pretty secure, but I'm wondering now. I also read a JAMA article (I think) recently that showed a projected shortage in a whole bunch of fields, but not path.

Most pathologists I know love it and speak highly of it. Is this guy way off?

Members don't see this ad.
 
I wouldn't get too worried about it. I'm not intimately familiar with the job market at this point but I do know that all of our grads for the past several years have found jobs. Also, there are a lot of older pathologists who are going to be retiring in the next few years which means more opportunities for us. Of course, I'm sure it depends on the part of the country you are in as well. In addition, certain fields, like microbiology for example, don't have a whole lot of job openings right now. But for surg path and other areas, the job opportunities are there.

The most important thing to remember is don't choose your future field of medicine based on the job market. Choose it based on what you enjoy the most. You don't want to be stuck in something you hate just because the job market was supposed to be good when you finished.
 
Absolutely agree with BCMD.

We have a fellow looking for a job right now and is having plenty of success she has 7 openings she has either gone to or is in the process of going to. And, out of that only two were advertised.

Some list of path jobs around the country right now can be found here.

www.pathologyoutlines.com

But, again remember probably 80% of path jobs are never advertised. They are found via word of mouth or by employers calling up programs.

The CAP has job listings on their site as well, but you can't get into that area until you are a member.

I don't know any pathologists that can't find work. Maybe their is more to the story with those that he is refering too.

And, I don't know about the VA you are refering too, but the one we have here (which is the largest in the country) doesn't do nearly that many specimens and they have 5 pathologists. And, I surely wouldn't say they are overworked hehe.

Hope this helps.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
One PD told me that there are 1.9 offers per candidate right now in pathology. Who knows about quality/desirability of the offers, but that is a nice stat.


It would suck though to be unemployed and 100,000s of dollars in debt!
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm not considering path b/c the job market is great or not (I dig brains, and AP/NP lets you see alot of them). However, when you hear someone spout off (even if he's something of a Polyanna), it does prompt at least a question or two.

Asked. Answered. Thanks.

as a post-script, I did some recon and the path attendings at the Philly VA are currently working 8-8, 6-7 days/week. It seems they're short one person and the VA is putting the squeeze on for $$. This may be a short term thing and/or something of an exageration, but it's the story I got froma couple people.

out
 
Top