can you guys explain a typical day for you?

[Tim Haas]

Hey all, can you all explain a typical day for you? I hear that pathology residency isnt that demanding, i mean hour wise per week. Also, are there any sites on learning more about the pathology career? thanks

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GreatPumpkin]

This is very dependent on the rotation and the program. My most demanding rotation is surgical path where the day can go from 7 or 8am till 7 or 8pm. For some folks longer. On this rotation I am going non-stop all day long. Sometimes skipping lunch. I have heard of programs where the residents are in the gross room till 10 and 11 at night. Also, work every other or every third Sat.

On some CP rotations I work from 8 to 5. Mostly reading, answering the phone, paperwork, meetings...etc...

 

[Tim Haas]

exactly how many years is residency in pathology? and also, if you dont mind, about how much do you make?

 

[Ironchef2]

Path residency is 4 years, though most people do 1-2 years of fellowship afterward. There is a salary thread/post just a couple below this one. check that out.

 

[Sohalia]

Great Pumpkin, I understand this is very program dependent, however, could you clarify what you mean when you say that you are doing things all day long on surgical path? What exactly are some of the things that you are doing? In terms of hours, do you have to stay only until surgery is done? If you stay later, why?

In CP you say the hours are 8-5 or so, so no weekends? What about call?

Are CP and surg path the extremes of hours, and if so, what would the "average" hours be like?

Also, about how much do you study when you are not actually at the hospital?

Thanks so much!

 

[GreatPumpkin]

My surg path day normally begins at 8am with conference for one hour. Then, sign out with the attending of all the cases I have ready which can take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours depending on which service it is and who is the attending. So this usually get me to almost lunch time where I pick up my slides from what I cut in the day before and start getting the paperwork together. I also look to see how much stuff has come over from the OR that I will be cutting in and decide if I want to look at slides, eat lunch or head to the gross room. If a normal day I will grab lunch sit at my desk and start previewing slides for sign out the next day. I can usually get all of the previewing done in about 2 hours. So at around 2 to 3 I head for the gross room where I spend the next 3 to 6 hours taking care of all the specimens that come in from the OR. When this is done I can head home. Also, all day long frozen sections can come in which require immediate attention. And, calls from clinicians come in as well.

Call we take from home, generally a week at a time. About 6 weeks or so first year and less as you become more senior. The only rotation that requires work on Sat is surg path. (once every 2 to 3 weeks). You can end up working on Sat or Sunday due to something happening while on call (ie. autopsy, apheresis, frozen section).

Like I said the hours can vary from rotation to rotation so much that an average is not very representative. Especially since you do different rotations all year long and from year to year. But, generally I work about 45 to 50 hours a week. My worst week ever was almost 70 hours.

I study on average none to one hour a night. This will probably increase as I get closer to 4th and 5th year. (I am the last 5 year class).