List of fellowships

[ilovepath]

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I've been looking at the ACGME site http://www.acgme.org/adspublic/ for the fellowship lists for path. Forgive my ignorance, but I have a couple questions. I can't find surgical, derm, GI fellowships etc, so am I to presume all those are non-ACGME? Ifso, is there an alternate site to find those lists for surg, derm, etc?
Secondly, there is a fellowship term I'm not familiar with: Specialty: Selective pathology. Is this just indicating its like an organ system like breast, GI, etc? Thanks for any insights.

 

[yaah]

Dermpath fellowships are there. They might be under dermatology.

GI, GU, Breast, surg path are not "accredited" fellowships so they are not listed under the ACGME website. I think there is a list at pathologyoutlines.com of fellowship programs.

 

[Entgegen]

I think the PathWiki has a list of fellowships as well.

 

[ilovepath]

Thanks for the answer.-- do you know what they mean by selective pathology? Thanks in advance.

Dermpath fellowships are there. They might be under dermatology.

GI, GU, Breast, surg path are not "accredited" fellowships so they are not listed under the ACGME website. I think there is a list at pathologyoutlines.com of fellowship programs.

 

[yaah]

Thanks for the answer.-- do you know what they mean by selective pathology? Thanks in advance.

Not entirely - I think it is a way to accredit a non-accredited fellowship. Thus, it's an "official" non-boarded fellowship. I think it mainly exists for medicare reimbursement reasons and credentialing issues. For right now, a selective pathology fellowship and a non-accredited surg path fellowship aren't really any different. Someone should feel free to correct me if I am wrong.

 

[KCShaw]

That's pretty much my understanding too. Accredited (ACGME), but non-boarded (ABPath). As long as you're comfortable with the work environment I doubt ACGME accreditation in the absence of being a boarded fellowship really does the fellow any good, but may help the program. The non-boarded "fellowships" are otherwise unregulated, and there's no formal way to compare one to another -- even one year to another within the same program. Technically one might say there is no such thing as a GI pathologist or cardiac pathologist, etc., just people who call themselves that for various reasons of their own choosing, but usually including a year as a so-called fellow focused on same. On the other hand most programs seem to run their non-boarded fellowships reasonably enough, so in practical terms despite the potential problems there seem to be few actual problems with this scheme. Or maybe it's all just a house of cards.

 

[zao275]

The wiki does indeed have the most complete list of path fellowships on the internet (to my knowledge): http://pathinfo.wikia.com/wiki/Pathology_Fellowship_Directory.

 

[coroner]

I am at a program with both accredited, non-boarded fellowships as well as accredited, boarded ones; and can shed some light. Accreditation and board-certifiable are two separate entities. Accreditation simply means the ACGME has a site visit with that program and reviews its curriculum and training based on certain standards that they deem acceptable just like they do for residency. Boarded means there's an exam administered and a certificate given by the governing body after completion of such a fellowship and passing their test. A program can be accredited without being boarded e.g. selective (surgical) pathology, but a program that's boarded automatically implies accreditation (unless it's on probation and may have temporarily lost it). Selective pathology is a term used (mainly by AMA/Freida) for ACGME accredited surg path fellowships.

Non-accredited surg path programs (or other AP subspecialties) don't necessarily have inferior training, or less merit on one's CV. However, there are unique circumstances which may apply for some where an accredited fellowship whether it's boarded or not is useful: If one registers for only one of the boards (either AP only or CP) without the intent of sitting for the other, but then changes their mind to take the second part later (which they never registered for), additional training to qualify to be eligible for the other component of the boards as required by ABP will only be counted if it comes from and ACGME accredited fellowship. The second situation is if one's board eligibility expires post-residency because that person never took the exam within the 5-7 year window. If this happens, the ABP requires remedial training. The expiration of the person's eligibility would begin after residency unless they did an ACGME accredited fellowship which would essentially buy them another year of eligibility. Hope this helps.