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New pathology program
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its a small community hospital
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Going to be a fmg residency.
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Thought is was a joke at first, but just checked, it's true folks...
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I'm confused, but what else is new. ACGME standards for pathology program accreditation must be really low, as in practically non-existent to be precise. I'm starting to think that all you need for a pathology residency is a non-condemned building, working utilities, and some form of usable optics to look at specimens of which neither quality or quantity matters.
It should also be noted that the affiliated institution/program already has a residency program, so I'm not sure what the need is other than cheap subsidized labor.
It should also be noted that the affiliated institution/program already has a residency program, so I'm not sure what the need is other than cheap subsidized labor.
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I called the ACGME about this a while ago.
They told me that since pathology is so different from the rest of medicine, they rely on the PD's word as to whether the residency is up to par.
There are no standards or expectations for specimen volume, complexity or type.
Theoretically you could have a program that does mostly placentas and joint scrapings. In fact, there's a program in Florida that does just this, as its hospital's biggest services are obstetrics and orthopedics.
ACGME approval is a rubber stamp exercise when it comes to pathology residencies.
I went to a mid tier pathology county hospital program. We saw pretty much bread and butter pathology, which was good enough for training purposes. 20,000 specimens a year approx. Our attendings were competent (mostly generalists who had their own expertise in a particular subspecialty) and have been there many years. What I noticed was that most of the people we interviewed were foreign grads, DOs and US Carribean students. We had a handful of US students. You could tell the program really catered (wanted to match) to US allopathic medical students and DOs. I got the sense that some people we interviewed used pathology as a backup to internal medicine or FP (one person even mentioned it during interviews).
Our program did not fill for one year I was there. The two fellowships go unfilled every few years, as Ive noticed on pathology outlines.
There were graduates who passed the boards on first attempt and some who failed at least once. It really depended on the residents themselves. The hospital wasnt very academic as I wished there was more teaching at signout or more slide unknowns.
Everyone got jobs after they passed their boards and are in private practice. I know of two graduates who are in academics.
Speaking for someone who went to a smaller program, the specimen variety was enough to prepare you for anatomic boards and for practice in real life.
The weak side of the program was clinical path, where the rotations were like mini-vacations with residents chiling out in the residents area. Basically CP was a bunch of lectures that put most of the residents asleep.
After I graduated residency I went on to a university academic program for fellowship and saw a difference in the quality of the teaching and conferences. It was more academically oriented (more subspecialized teaching and more research oriented).
Again all the graduates who passed the boards are practicing currently. A smaller program will prepare you well if you put in the effort and utilize your attendings.
Just giving my perspective from a former resident of a small path program. I'm sure its like this at other smaller programs as well. I do agree that the smaller path programs (who take 2 residents a year) will be mostly filled with foreign grads, DOs or US Carribean grads.
Our program did not fill for one year I was there. The two fellowships go unfilled every few years, as Ive noticed on pathology outlines.
There were graduates who passed the boards on first attempt and some who failed at least once. It really depended on the residents themselves. The hospital wasnt very academic as I wished there was more teaching at signout or more slide unknowns.
Everyone got jobs after they passed their boards and are in private practice. I know of two graduates who are in academics.
Speaking for someone who went to a smaller program, the specimen variety was enough to prepare you for anatomic boards and for practice in real life.
The weak side of the program was clinical path, where the rotations were like mini-vacations with residents chiling out in the residents area. Basically CP was a bunch of lectures that put most of the residents asleep.
After I graduated residency I went on to a university academic program for fellowship and saw a difference in the quality of the teaching and conferences. It was more academically oriented (more subspecialized teaching and more research oriented).
Again all the graduates who passed the boards are practicing currently. A smaller program will prepare you well if you put in the effort and utilize your attendings.
Just giving my perspective from a former resident of a small path program. I'm sure its like this at other smaller programs as well. I do agree that the smaller path programs (who take 2 residents a year) will be mostly filled with foreign grads, DOs or US Carribean grads.
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