- Joined
- Nov 2, 2012
- Messages
- 321
- Reaction score
- 61
I have received the annual renewal notice from CAP which made me think of its worth. I have concluded that I have no real option. It is sad.
UselessSave your money. They are making a killing off of PT.
Save your money. They are making a killing off of PT.
Do you know you have to be a CAP member in order to have your lab CAP accredited? Even if it was not a requirement, would CAP make your lab credentialing more difficult as a retribution?
At the risk of getting tarred and feathered, I think the CAP is worth joining. Despite it's significant PT revenues, CAP governance is largely membership-driven. If you don't like what the CAP is doing, instead of quitting, work on changing the hearts and minds of your fellow pathologist members. If enough like-minded pathologists are members, the organization can be "transformed" into whatever we'd like it to be.
If you do nothing else (or hate it so much that you can't stomach paying membership dues), I'd at least consider a donation to PathPAC. That money is earmarked specifically for political action on behalf of pathologists, and is not spent on the meeting or on perks for executives, etc.
It's not perfect, but it's what we've got.
Could you share some links regarding PathPAC? I would like to see what they're about. If they are fighting on our behalf, then I would have no issues providing them with some financial assistance.
CAP serves itself, not us. Whether we are members or not is irrelevant to that organization, since it makes 40x the amount made on membership dues via proficiency testing. How can we influence an organization that has competing financial interests?
I am a member because I have a job...accreditation/inspections. Happy I am member I guess...since I am lucky enough to be employed. Of course they are pushing the oversupply increasing my chances of not being employed. Great situation.
I wouldn't donate a penny. All money goes to becoming financial independent. The sooner the better. You can't trust this field.
Sorry to rant, but our profession needs those among us who care about the future and who are smart and who can communicate to step to the fore and provide leadership. It does not need any more emo kids, complainers, lickspittles, toddlers, shrinking violets, whiners, defeatists, or candy asses who limit their contributions to bitching on the internet.
Wait, don't hold back--tell us how you really feel! LOL
Speaking for myself, I did the PathPAC advocacy, the lobbying in Congress, the representative lab tours. Did it all.
I'm not "stepping to the fore" anymore. My time and finite energy are now better spent looking after my business and maximizing my income in the face of relentlessly terrible pathology leadership. Terrible for me, that is. I have no illusion that my belief that there is a serious actionable problem with our specialty is widely held among CAP members, and I'm not going to waste any time trying to convince them otherwise.
Surely you've waded through enough boring threads on this site to realize that it is an uphill battle trying to convince our knee-jerk pathology contrarians that the sky is blue, let alone that we are in big trouble. i remember arguing pointlessly here with a recent fellow with his first great job who thought I was full of ****. It wasn't until he had been in practice awhile that he finally came around. I remember thinking, Great, one down, five thousand to go. Who has time for that nonsense? I don't.
You write that our profession needs people "who care about the future", but that is not quite right. Pathology needs people with high expectations--professional and financial--and the will to achieve them. Caring about the future automatically follows. What I see is a field dominated by people who are content (grateful?) they have a job. A job as limited in scope and responsibility as possible, with maximum time off. And they'll gladly trade their income and their dignity for the privilege. And CAP is happy to oblige them. No amount of my motivational speaking at CAP is going to alter that reality.
Sadly, I can't really argue with anything you said. A lot of the time I have spent in "organized pathology" activities has been low-yield. It is just frustrating. It's a train wreck happening in slow motion, and the cars in the back still haven't caught on that we're in trouble.
Yes. I am just in mourning for the dying days when those with an entrepreneurial spirit were welcome in medicine. Youngsters who have never known it any other way probably don't see why it's such a big deal.The field is in unstoppable transition, and once that transmogrification is complete and those with longer professional memory are all gone, I actually think it will be less frustrating. Less frustrating because there will be nothing better to compare it to. Pathology is being downgraded to glorified commoditized specialty tech work. Less money and autonomy in exchange for a more limited range of duties and working hours. I think the Millennials with recreational lifestyles are going to lap it up. And that's fine, only don't kid yourself CAP, the megalabs, and the academics are doing this for anyone's benefit other than themselves.