2023 Pathology Match Results

[KeratinPearls]

Imo we overestimate how hard people want to work.

This is the post-Covid era. People aren’t gonna be signing out 100 88305s a day for more than a couple of years. The days of hustling like that are over. I don’t blame them one bit.

Days like that are over? Not true.

My friends have been working there for years as other senior pathologists in the group who have been there longer. They got to unless they find something better but like I said they seem happy there (for some weird reason lol). Maybe they like to be tortured lol

Hell Ive worked 12 hour days (not consistently though). I have a side job to make extra money.

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[Spikebd]

Days like that are over? Not true.

My friends have been working there for years as other senior pathologists in the group who have been there longer. They got to unless they find something better but like I said they seem happy there (for some weird reason lol). Maybe they like to be tortured lol

Hell Ive worked 12 hour days (not consistently though). I have a side job to make extra money.

we always talk about digital path taking away jobs but molecular path created many jobs, and might create even more jobs.

 

[KeratinPearls]

we always talk about digital path taking away jobs but molecular path created many jobs, and might create even more jobs.

Good thought. Hopefully that’s the case but you gotta be molecular trained unless the current residency curriculum changes so that future graduating pathologists are well versed in molecular after they graduate residency.

That would be interesting to see. A lot of months rotating in molecular just like we are currently spending in surgpath. I hope that does happen and we control the molecular space in medicine.

 

[path24]

I think the problem is complicated. We must look at (1) college/medical school tuition, (2) costs patients have to pay, and (3) physicians' salaries. It should be the issue if there is a mismatch between those three. We blame private equities for low physician salaries. But wait, what if they can provide affordable healthcare? I had blood tests done with Quest. They provided very competitive prices. From a customer standpoint, I see Quest did a really good job. What about greedy college/medical school administrators? I don't see anyone blaming Harvard/Yale,... for 80,000 bucks a year/of tuition? 8 years of college/medical school are too long? Could we reduce it to 6 years in total?

Problem already solved for medicine. NPs. Nobody cares about the cost/time you spent on education.

 

[mike-sheree]

It’s going to be 9-5 on a W-2 for damned near everyone. And it will entail 8K+ cases/yr glass and/or virtual. “P.C.” structured groups will be all but gone as the oldsters retire and/or sell. Any aging equity owner is going to sell over getting a gold watch and a hearty adios.

 

[ScubaV]

Many millennials don’t really have kids

This will be very interesting on a broad scale. Not just pathology or even medicine, but how does society handle shifts to successively smaller generations? The covid-related boomer retirement wave has given us a small preview. Big money is panicking that it might lose control over the labor force. Can tech efficiencies cover for a smaller workforce? And does the anti-capitalist sentiment of Gen Z manifest into anything as elderly boomers clutching onto political power die off?

 

[Med Director New England]

There are a lot of good comments ^^many are spot on.

Smh at anyone who believes we need more paths. Mike is right - until every path is busy we don’t need more. Many, many paths are still sitting around doing 1/2 of what they could be doing. This is why path is rapidly consolidating, getting harder to pay for any doctor who is not billing a lot in the current environment.

Also why is everyone so quick to vilify corporate/ PE? They didn’t create the oversupply.

 

[KeratinPearls]

There are a lot of good comments ^^many are spot on.

Smh at anyone who believes we need more paths. Mike is right - until every path is busy we don’t need more. Many, many paths are still sitting around doing 1/2 of what they could be doing. This is why path is rapidly consolidating, getting harder to pay for any doctor who is not billing a lot in the current environment.

Also why is everyone so quick to vilify corporate/ PE? They didn’t create the oversupply.

Already vilified academics for the past 15 years here on SDN. Gotta spread the hate around you know. 👿👿

 

[SunBakedTrash]

In my career, I have found the most abusive and shady positions to be those under older private practice pathologists. This specialty has no problem eating its young.

At least with academics and corporate, it’s clear that you are a cog within the machine.

 

[caffeinegirl]

In my career, I have found the most abusive and shady positions to be those under older private practice pathologists. This specialty has no problem eating its young.

At least with academics and corporate, it’s clear that you are a cog within the machine.

Completely agree here - and this is true in multiple specialties as well. Greed knows no bounds. Beware those small private practices which have pathologists who still have transcriptionists and who value their 8+ weeks off at the expense of junior pathologists. I also think that us in medicine come out of training more naive than those in other fields. We don't have experience with the "real world" and can get taken advantage of easily. Combine that with the culture of medicine which is perpetuated in training - that of the attending at the top of the totem pole - and it just breeds a junior workforce who doesn't know how to stand up for itself.

 

[rebuilteva]

You pretty much have to take matters into your own hands with regards to independent sign out. There's several ways that you can get the "feel" of independent sign out as a resident.

One is to have an attending that will allow you to work up the case independently and then review it with you giving you uncensored and occasionally brutal feedback. This is very dependent on the attending.

Another way is to review old cases and treat them like they are brand new. Get on the good side of the keeper of the slides in your department and let them know you'd like to review some old cases. Then review the slides and write up your diagnosis and compare it to the actual signed out diagnosis. This is also a good way to get exposure to less common tumors or tumors that seem to keep missing you when you're on surgicals.

Hi there,

Thanks for the helpful advice! How early do you recommend starting this in your residency training?

Thanks!

 

[mike-sheree]

Completely agree here - and this is true in multiple specialties as well. Greed knows no bounds. Beware those small private practices which have pathologists who still have transcriptionists and who value their 8+ weeks off at the expense of junior pathologists. I also think that us in medicine come out of training more naive than those in other fields. We don't have experience with the "real world" and can get taken advantage of easily. Combine that with the culture of medicine which is perpetuated in training - that of the attending at the top of the totem pole - and it just breeds a junior workforce who doesn't know how to stand up for itself.

Very much agree. Our training does nothing to prepare new folks for the business of medicine (and that is what it is) while, at the same time, fosters sadistic “bosses” who have never developed decent interpersonal skill. Perhaps this is one reason the MBA/V.C. community found such fertile ground in medicine in general, path in particular. Easy to corral a bunch of ignorant Aspberger paths.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Very much agree. Our training does nothing to prepare new folks for the business of medicine (and that is what it is) while, at the same time, fosters sadistic “bosses” who have never developed decent interpersonal skill. Perhaps this is one reason the MBA/V.C. community found such fertile ground in medicine in general, path in particular. Easy to corral a bunch of ignorant Aspberger paths.

VC is slick at seducing physicians by appealing to their desire for control. Autonomy from those evil hospitals! Doctors make the decisions, not hospital administrators! Instead, the physicians are just serving a different master. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. True independence doesn't exist.

 

[mike-sheree]

VC is slick at seducing physicians by appealing to their desire for control. Autonomy from those evil hospitals! Doctors make the decisions, not hospital administrators! Instead, the physicians are just serving a different master. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. True independence doesn't exist.

Absolutely. That is the understanding. Once you sell, and you’ve chosen to stick around, you ain’t gonna be the boss anymore.

 

[MetroPath]

In my career, I have found the most abusive and shady positions to be those under older private practice pathologists. This specialty has no problem eating its young.

At least with academics and corporate, it’s clear that you are a cog within the machine.

Don’t forget groups that kick out junior pathologists before they make partner.

Young grads out there make sure you find out about the reputation of a group before you sign the contract.

 

[mike-sheree]

Don’t forget groups that kick out junior pathologists before they make partner.

Young grads out there make sure you find out about the reputation of a group before you sign the contract.

That situation is becoming a “non-problem”. Private practice professional corporations/LLC’s with equity potential are disappearing rapidly.

 

[MetroPath]

That situation is becoming a “non-problem”. Private practice professional corporations/LLC’s with equity potential are disappearing rapidly.

Yeah looked at website for a group in Florida. All the most senior people in the group were listed as “shareholders” while those who have been there for a shorter time (but still been there for a good amount of time) were not and no mention of shareholder status so I’m guessing they were just employees.

 

[RoachUSMLE]

The thing is the pathology job market remains good for how long before it is crashing again?

In about 1-2 years

 

[RoachUSMLE]

I just matched. I am gonna be a baby resident. I have not known where I matched until Friday. I hope I am ending up in Indiana or Iowa (my top choices). I hate big cities. I want to build an empire in the middle of nowhere (little weird right?)

I thought you like programs in Connecticut...

 

[RoachUSMLE]

I would probably hire a vulva pathologist. Those are way harder than any GI case I ever read.

You need more vulvas - practice makes perfect

 

[MetroPath]

You need more vulvas - practice makes perfect