How did you know Path was right for you?

[lilycat]

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Hey all,

I'm curious how most of you decided on pathology, or how you knew it was a good fit? Did you get a lot of exposure to it in medical school? I'm currently halfway through an OB/gyn internship, which I alternately enjoy/feel lukewarm about. I don't hate it - I'm just not sure I love it enough to keep me going through the rest of residency and beyond. I'm considering possibly switching to internal medicine, but I've also thought about path for a couple of reasons: 1) a few ex-surgery types I know went into path and really enjoy it - they say they still get to do some procedures/cutting without the malignancy of surgery; 2) I often find myself wondering more about the diagnoses of patients after I see them in clinic or the OR -- how the biopsy/colposcopy/excised tube/lymph nodes, etc. look after we send them to path. My concern is I had very minimal exposure to path in med school. Advice, suggestions?

 

[b&ierstiefel]

That is the unfortunate thing...many of us get very minimal exposure to pathology during medical school. Having completed med school not that long ago, I felt that a one-month rotation provided a superficial (but more or less sufficient, I guess) view of pathology. I really started to understand more about pathology and enjoy it more and more during residency. This was fortunate because if this were not to be the case, I'd be in a similar situation as you.

For you, do you have elective time? Perhaps during that time, you could schedule a pathology observership at your hospital. Make sure you shadow a resident and you watch him/her take a case from the beginning and take it to the end (from the grossing to previewing to signing out) to get a clear view to what kind of work goes on in a path residency.

Hey all,

I'm curious how most of you decided on pathology, or how you knew it was a good fit? Did you get a lot of exposure to it in medical school? I'm currently halfway through an OB/gyn internship, which I alternately enjoy/feel lukewarm about. I don't hate it - I'm just not sure I love it enough to keep me going through the rest of residency and beyond. I'm considering possibly switching to internal medicine, but I've also thought about path for a couple of reasons: 1) a few ex-surgery types I know went into path and really enjoy it - they say they still get to do some procedures/cutting without the malignancy of surgery; 2) I often find myself wondering more about the diagnoses of patients after I see them in clinic or the OR -- how the biopsy/colposcopy/excised tube/lymph nodes, etc. look after we send them to path. My concern is I had very minimal exposure to path in med school. Advice, suggestions?

 

[yaah]

Why would you be switching into IM?

The problem of not knowing what pathology really is is very common, particularly as med schools move away from traditional educational methods and med school becomes more "Hands on" with more clinical exposure, less lab time, NO MICROSCOPES, more lectures/small groups on peripheral issues, etc etc. I think it's a shame but I'm old fashioned anyway.

You won't really know if you like path unless you try it. I'm not sure if your schedule will allow electives, but you should try getting some exposure - can you spend a few hours sitting in on signouts here and there? It will be more difficult to get into a path residency if you have no real path experience and you are trying to switch fields - most residency program directors would have a lot of questions for you (not impossible, obviously, and made more easy if you are a good person with good evals, etc).

I don't know too many people who hate pathology (except for those who know nothing about it and say they hate it), but it wouldn't be a good fit for a lot of people, and you need to know what you are getting into.