advantages of path?

[oca81]

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i'm a MSIII who doesn't know too much about pathology. just finished a really amazing oncology clerkship, they worked closely with pathology.

i'm pretty undecided still on what to choose as a career. I am trying to set up a clerkship in pathology early summer to see if i like it. Step 1 score was 199. hope to improve a lot for step 2. How competetive is pathology?

what are some advantages in pathology as a career...any advice appreciated.

 

[djmd]

i'm a MSIII who doesn't know too much about pathology. just finished a really amazing oncology clerkship, they worked closely with pathology.

i'm pretty undecided still on what to choose as a career. I am trying to set up a clerkship in pathology early summer to see if i like it. Step 1 score was 199. hope to improve a lot for step 2. How competetive is pathology?

what are some advantages in pathology as a career...any advice appreciated.

The single biggest advantage is that it is not like the rest of medicine.
It is also the worst thing about it if you don't belong in path.

The nearly total lack of patient interaction.

If you really like that, path is really not for you.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

The nearly total lack of patient interaction.

I see this repeatedly thrown around, however, at least at the institution that I am at, the cytopathologists frequently have dedicated clinic days and sign out biopsies and bigs other days. So yes, you can still have patient contact if you want to do path, you just have to like cyto.

 

[drPLUM]

To the OP, don't take this the wrong way but if you just finished a medical oncology rotation and thought it was "amazing" then path may not be for you. I doubt you will find anyone here who thought any internal medicine rotation was "amazing" anymore than you would find anyone on the internal medicine boards who thought their path roataion was "amazing". For instance I am really interested in hemepath but even my hematology sub-I, though it was all leukemia and some lymphomas and though I learned a lot, was incredibly painful and hardly "amazing".

With that said... I'm curious what you liked about it... that would tell you more about what field is right for you. Again, I'm not saying don't do path, after all you may love path. I'm just saying that path and med onc are coming from different perspectives and it may be med onc that you love not path.

 

[Gene_]

I loved my oncology rotation - it gave me lots of excuses to get off the wards to look at slides. But like the above poster, it's the path I liked and not the medical oncology part.

 

[Aubrey]

I loved my oncology rotation - it gave me lots of excuses to get off the wards to look at slides. But like the above poster, it's the path I liked and not the medical oncology part.

Seconded. Cancer is interesting, cancer patients are depressing (to me at least).

 

[djmd]

I loved my oncology rotation - it gave me lots of excuses to get off the wards to look at slides. But like the above poster, it's the path I liked and not the medical oncology part.

That is sort what was trying to say but failed to do so.

Pathology is very different from other parts of the medical field. And lifestyle allone, is really prob not enough to motivate people through pathology.

 

[yaah]

I agree with you - successful interactions with patients are often those where you have to make as minimal chit chat as possible and just get to the problems. This is why I didn't like about clinical medicine.

 

[AnnaLee]

I actually thought I would do a subspecialty of medicine during my first two years of med school. I loved the pathophysiology and diagnostics that I was told was "internal medicine". I thought I would spend my days figuring out crazy diagnoses and solving mysteries. I think in theory, internal medicine is really cool. You get all the most difficult to diagnose patients, at least, that is what the medicine docs will tell you.

Now third year medicine is a whole totally different story. In practice, nearly all your time is devoted to therapy and other BS. I dont think I ever had a single patient who didnt walk in the door with their diagnosis, usually a gigantic list of them.

The point of all this is, I can understand why a person might think they could like medicine and pathology. I think (in theory) they are the both thinkers and problem-solvers. The difference is, do you like the diagnosis part, or the patient care/managment part? I think some people might feel cheated in pathology if they never got to do any of the "curing". Just my 2 cents!

 

[yaah]

That's true, actually. I thought about that when I was an M3 as well - how everyone comes in with their diagnosis mostly established. I guess you can do ER and see lots of mysteries, but even then most of it is not a mystery. Primary care the same way.

 

[drPLUM]

Primary care the same way.

Yes, but less so I think. In primary clinics at least there is a chance of catching something new, but it is hardly ever really dramatic.

I, personally, was never under this impression that internal medicine was all about diagnosis. The mentors that I had in internal medicine chose the field because they got fulfillment out of walking into a patient's room and being "the guy" they depended on and meeting the needs of the patient in a biopsychosocial manner. This process is like eating gravel to me. I feel like nothing ever gets done in IM and issues just stay unresolved. In path you concentrate on a case and make a diagnosis (even if it takes a while after sending for stains, etc) then put it to bed. To me there is a sense of accomplishment in that.

I'm not trying to turn this into an internal medicine bashing thread. I appreciate that all people are different and will find different things rewarding. I am glad that we have good internal medicine docs and I hope that mine is one of them. I just don't want to be one. So for the OP that liked the oncology rotation, I'm glad that you found something that you like, that is the first and hardest step. Now the process becomes teasing out what perspective you want to come from and what angle it is that you find rewarding.

 

[PathOne]

In Internal Medicine they know everything and can do nothing.
In Surgery they know nothing but and do everything.
In Pathology they know everything and can do everything - but then it's too late.

Sorry, couldn't resist...

 

[b&ierstiefel]

That joke is sooooo old. Thank you. Come again.

In Internal Medicine they know everything and can do nothing.
In Surgery they know nothing but and do everything.
In Pathology they know everything and can do everything - but then it's too late.

Sorry, couldn't resist...

 

[djmd]

That joke is sooooo old. Thank you. Come again.

Ok how about

Medicine Rounds = Shifting Dullness

 

[uhoh!]

Medicine Rounds = Shifting Dullness

Sweet! 👍

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Ok how about

Medicine Rounds = Shifting Dullness

Good one. Clever! Haven't heard that one yet.

 

[drPLUM]

Ok, so an internist, a surgeon, and a pathologist go duck hunting. The internist is up first and takes aim. A duck flies by and the internist looks up and thinks "hmm... could be a goose, gander, duck? how about swan? eagle, hawk? no not likely but still possible. what about other waterfowl? hmm..." and the duck flies on out of range. The surgeon is up next and takes aim. Before the bird is even clearly in sight... BANG! In the distance something falls from the sky. The surgeon turns to the pathologist and says "Go tell me what that is".

 

[yaah]

And then the pathologist turns to the surgeon and says, "**** you, I'm CP only."

 

[b&ierstiefel]

And then the pathologist turns to the surgeon and says, "**** you, I'm CP only."

 

[hizo1]

I actually thought I would do a subspecialty of medicine during my first two years of med school. I loved the pathophysiology and diagnostics that I was told was "internal medicine". I thought I would spend my days figuring out crazy diagnoses and solving mysteries. I think in theory, internal medicine is really cool. You get all the most difficult to diagnose patients, at least, that is what the medicine docs will tell you.

Now third year medicine is a whole totally different story. In practice, nearly all your time is devoted to therapy and other BS. I dont think I ever had a single patient who didnt walk in the door with their diagnosis, usually a gigantic list of them.

The point of all this is, I can understand why a person might think they could like medicine and pathology. I think (in theory) they are the both thinkers and problem-solvers. The difference is, do you like the diagnosis part, or the patient care/managment part? I think some people might feel cheated in pathology if they never got to do any of the "curing". Just my 2 cents!

I couldn't agree more with the above statement. I went into my medicine rotation thinking I'd be making diagnoses left and right just by doing a good h/p and looking at their lab values. in reality, medicine sucks. it's more about making families feel comfortable, consulting other services, and liasing with nursing homes and social workers.

path is the way to go if you're in it for the problem solving and the science aspects of medicine.

hec