clinical years and Pathology

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postbacpremed87

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How relevant are the clinical years to Pathology residency? I know the answer is nearly no relevance. I feel like years 3-4 don't prepare you at all for Pathology. Wouldn't it be easier just to do Pathology apprenticeships in years 3-4 to prepare us to be solid Pathology residents jumping in? I'm not liking clinicals so far - go figure... I want Path

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How relevant are the clinical years to Pathology residency? I know the answer is nearly no relevance. I feel like years 3-4 don't prepare you at all for Pathology. Wouldn't it be easier just to do Pathology apprenticeships in years 3-4 to prepare us to be solid Pathology residents jumping in? I'm not liking clinicals so far - go figure... I want Path

We didn't like it either :\ unfortunately a lot of Pathology is understanding the medical condition, not necessarily what's on the slide. Keep studying and do well on Step 2, and if anybody gives you crap just sneak down to the path lab and see what those guys are up to.
 
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We didn't like it either :\ unfortunately a lot of Pathology is understanding the medical condition, not necessarily what's on the slide. Keep studying and do well on Step 2, and if anybody gives you crap just sneak down to the path lab and see what those guys are up to.

I'm also very introverted so the constant meeting new attendings and developing new first impressions is exhausting for me. I do well with people but I am exhausted after the encounters. I've been told I am very nice and polite to patients (good bedside manner) but the interactions exhaust me.
 
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Yeah once you start path residency there's no more surgical knots, no more history taking, no more SOAP notes, no more stethoscope, etc. (Hooray!) Definitely do some path rotations in your elective time, but I wouldn't spend all 4th year trying to be a path resident. It's great to have an understanding of what pathologists and residents do, but programs understand that the typical incoming PGY-1 has spent their last 2 years primarily doing clinical medicine and that you're starting from scratch. Also, there is something to be said for seeing what clinicians do with results, as a basic understanding of treatments will help you provide useful diagnoses as an attending. Take some clinical electives that heavily utilize pathology/laboratory diagnoses like medical/surgical oncology, dermatology, hematology, infectious disease, etc.

Anyway, hang in there. Continue to do strong work in clinical settings, land your residency program of choice, and then you can get to the good stuff!
 
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I'm also very introverted so the constant meeting new attendings and developing new first impressions is exhausting for me. I do well with people but I am exhausted after the encounters. I've been told I am very nice and polite to patients (good bedside manner) but the interactions exhaust me.

Spoken like a true introvert! You're doing okay, and even if it's minimal interaction just always be polite. Pathology seems up your alley.
 
Very relevant if you want to know what you are doing. Technical things you learn (procedures) are not that helpful, although it does help to understand how certain surgeries work and how specimens are obtained. But the medical knowledge is paramount - the more medical knowledge you have, the more informed your reports are and the more you will understand what is going on.
 
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I'm also very introverted so the constant meeting new attendings and developing new first impressions is exhausting for me. I do well with people but I am exhausted after the encounters. I've been told I am very nice and polite to patients (good bedside manner) but the interactions exhaust me.

Just so you know, you will still be meeting a ton of people in pathology (which I think is great, but yes, can be a bit exhausting at first). I think this is especially true if you do your residency at a large program -- there's lots of residents, fellows, attendings, PAs, technicians, supervisors, other lab personnel, etc. Trying to remember all the names and faces will make your head spin... but having said that, you don't have to see 60 patients a day and write H&Ps all night when you're on call!
 
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Very relevant if you want to know what you are doing. Technical things you learn (procedures) are not that helpful, although it does help to understand how certain surgeries work and how specimens are obtained. But the medical knowledge is paramount - the more medical knowledge you have, the more informed your reports are and the more you will understand what is going on.
I strongly agree with this. Both for diagnostic surgical pathology, along with subspecialties like hemepath, lab medicine, blood banking, and forensic path, the more general medicine and surgery you know, the better you'll be at your job. In Canada pathology residency is 5 years and pgy1 is a rotating internship. I wish I had such an opportunity, as I know it would make me an even better forensic pathologist.
 
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