so...being a 4th yr med student going into path, im AP/CP. have slim to none experience in CP but love the scope (duh) i dont regret AP/CP (i hope i like CP..), but is it true that most community jobs out there require AP/CP or can you get a surg path job reading slides in a group/ hospital without operating the bloodbank/ lab? i feel like med students get no real view of what pathology is like in the community (we rotate at academic institiutions)..
Many hospitals now require you to hold active CP boards to even be on staff at a hospital in a pathology section (or if the hospital is big enough, pathology department). This % will GROW dramatically in the next decade. This is rapidly evolving and has primarily to do with revamped credentialing controls that your legislators and regulators are pushing. I would really no advise anyone to do AP or CP only.
AP or CP only should be only for specific professions such as Neuropath, Forensic Path, medical Microbiology or Transfusion mediine. The reality is even those may be limited if you seek a non-academic position.If you wish to practice in community hospital, you need both.
If you intend to practice in the community, do both AP and CP. On the other hand, as community pathology continues its downward spiral, you may decide to go boutique and seek an academic sinecure, in which case CP boards are irrelevant. Keep your eyes open.
well then, looks like i made the right choice. academics could be a lot of fun but options are good.. what do you mean by "boutique" path if you don't mind explaining (is that not the same thing as community)?
Boutique as in academic subspecialization to the extent you are not required/able to function outside your chosen organ system. You come in mornings, fly through your cases with residents who've already previewed your work, and then spend afternoons on assorted "research" activities of varying quality. After-hours frozens outside your area get to be terrifying and the pay is not great, but residents do your scut and the work load is nothing compared to private practice.
I'm doing FP and am AP/CP. I don't see how you can separate the two, but that's just me. You can certainly do FP being AP only without a problem, but I'm of the school of thought that more knowledge never hurt anyone. also, this may change depending on your program. Some programs actually have a structured CP program others tell you to go read Henry's for 6 months. I elected the former. In fact, strong CP training actually led me to choose my current program...
When you do AP only, programs are required to give you some stuff that many programs consider as "CP." Like hemepath (mostly bone marrow and lymph node hemepath), molecular, immunopath. AP boards also tests these things. So there is a lot of overlap. But yes, pathwraith is right, people who are planning on limiting themselves to one organ system often do AP only. I suspect you could work at some big reference lab limiting yourself to an organ system, but you're starting to limit your prospects more that way. It would probably work if you did GI path or dermpath, but other than that it gets sketchy to hope it would work out for you. Private groups want you to cover CP stuff also.
