Is it all just dead bodies?!

[MarketDoc]

I am Pre-Med, and yes, it is probaly WAY to early for me to start thinking about it, but how hard is path residency to get into? Is the lifestyle good? I'd like to be able to go to my kid's games and such! Also, I've heard from some of my older friends, one who is in medical school, that to him Pathology seems to be all about nothing but autopsies. I don't mind the occasional dead body, I just wouldn't like to work 10hrs a day with them. Is workin w/ dead bodise just a speciality, or is it the only thing there is in path?

Thanks in advance!

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[Gut Shot]

but how hard is path residency to get into?

Overall, not very.

Is the lifestyle good?

Compared to other specialties, yes.

Also, I've heard from some of my older friends, one who is in medical school, that to him Pathology seems to be all about nothing but autopsies.

Your friends don't have a clue. Autopsy is a small fraction of what pathologists do, and many do zero autopsies. There are many resources on the web that describe pathology as a career, such as this one. I'll give you the nickel version: pathology has two halves, AP (anatomic pathology) and CP (clinical pathology). Each can be subdivided as such:

AP:
Surgical pathology
Cytology
Autopsy pathology
Forensic pathology

CP:
Hematopathology (some overlap with AP)
Medical microbiology
Clinical chemistry
Transfusion medicine (blood banking)

Most pathology residents train in both AP and CP, although you can do one or the other. There are also other subdivisions that I have not listed. If you were to ask me what a generic pathologist actually spends the most time doing, it's surgical pathology. As the website states:

Whenever tissue is removed from the body, it must be examined to determine the precise cause of the illness that prompted its removal. Microscopic analysis of tissue changes is the focus of anatomic pathology. The pathologist plays a central role in the diagnosis of surgically removed tissues, particularly when tumor is suspected, and works closely with surgeons and other physicians in such cases.

 

[Matte Kudesai]

Also, I've heard from some of my older friends, one who is in medical school, that to him Pathology seems to be all about nothing but autopsies. I don't mind the occasional dead body, I just wouldn't like to work 10hrs a day with them. Is workin w/ dead bodise just a speciality, or is it the only thing there is in path?Thanks in advance!

Maybe its good to let people think that's what pathology is.

That way we can keep the applicant numbers down.

This can backfire as well and attract the only autopsy crowd....

 

[LADoc00]

I am Pre-Med, and yes, it is probaly WAY to early for me to start thinking about it, but how hard is path residency to get into? Is the lifestyle good? I'd like to be able to go to my kid's games and such! Also, I've heard from some of my older friends, one who is in medical school, that to him Pathology seems to be all about nothing but autopsies. I don't mind the occasional dead body, I just wouldn't like to work 10hrs a day with them. Is workin w/ dead bodise just a speciality, or is it the only thing there is in path?

Thanks in advance!

Yes and go away please. No room here.

 

[Gut Shot]

Yeah, on second thought, my job sucks balls and I have no life or prospects for improvement. Nothing to see here, move along.

 

[Dermbound00]

Yes, pathology consists of autopsy and being other clinicans whipping posts. If you cant handle a body that has been decomposing in the heat of Texas for weeks and then being called at 3 AM for a frozen section of an obvious benign ovarian cyst because the clinician wanted to act like he knew what he was doing and he could call his little brother in, than I would chose another field. Plus, there is too much competition in Dermpath to have more people entering pathology . I can only shout out answers during lecture, peel back the label to reveal the unknown number, and kiss butt so much in a day.