path for residency

[ilovepath]

I'M an upcoming msiii. I'm looking forward to doing path for residency. Does anyone have suggestions for path electives to take....or anything I can do to best prepare myself for residency? Any books I should buy?? I have a BS in microbiology, can that work in my favor? I am extremely excited about path and don't really like clinical medicine all that much.
Thanks

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[drPLUM]

I'M an upcoming msiii. I'm looking forward to doing path for residency. Does anyone have suggestions for path electives to take....or anything I can do to best prepare myself for residency? Any books I should buy?? I have a BS in microbiology, can that work in my favor? I am extremely excited about path and don't really like clinical medicine all that much.
Thanks

If you are excited about pathology as a residency, then why the thumbs down in the subject heading?

To answer your question...

IMO, during your third year the best way to prepare for pathology residency is to try and learn as much as you can during your clinical rotations and do well on Step II. Not that this will make you better at intpreting biopsies, but it will help you gain perspective about different fields. Pathologists are doctors and they do need clinical knowledge. There is more to it than "oohh look! A Reed-Sternberg cell!" Integration of clinical knowledge is valuable in pathology.

I have matched but haven't started yet. In between going to the beach, traveling to find a place to live near my residency, and drinking a lot, I may try to review some basic histology (just so on day 1 I can tell the difference between liver and colon).

 

[LADoc00]

Mistakes I have made...they do exist, Im not flawless..

I did an insane number of path electives, bad idea. I honestly dont think you get much out of it as a MS other than learning how to inefficiently put 3 blocks thru on a lap chole or 12 blocks on a fibroid uterus, bad habits I had to unlearn anyway!

Better idea would have been to do GI, Hematology, Rad Oncology (very good), as many derm rotations you can do, Colorectal surgery, breast surgery and the like. If you are crazy enough to consider Neuropath, Neurosurgery rotations would be a great idea as well. If you are considering Forensics tho, NONE of this applies. Be lazy, take 6 "reading rotations" and watch CSI, nothing you learned in med school will really apply.

 

[ilovepath]

my bad...i didn't realize that was a thumbs down icon it looked like a question mark.
i want to qualify my status...i am starting 3rd year but i have to repeat it for a variety of reasons. so basically i do have the experience to r/o all the other specialties based on my experience of them... which is mainly scutwork and not much teaching, and a lot of pt customer service. i hope this repeat doesn't count against me.
also is a step 1 score of 209/85 ok? i plan to do much better on step 2, but i hope that score doesn't exclude me from pursuing path.

 

[ilovepath]

the unfortunate thing is most residents/attendings that i reveal my intentions for path look at me like i'm an idiot. One attending actually said 'that's such a shame, why would you want to waste your talents in path?' it's ironic that some of these hate their own jobs--particularly ob/gyn, surg.

some of the tip offs that indicated path was right for me--often times i would know more about pathophys than residents/attndings. i was shocked to know a pediatrician i was working with didn't know how to describe ttp! sheesh. from what i hear path really encourages self motivated learning...truly fulfilling work.
i also think there is a wide variety of performance of the physical exam....most ppl go through the motions and don't truly use it for useful information.

also....has any other profession ever passed the monday morning test for you? i.e. you actually look forward to work and don't suffer gi/ibs sxs from the dread of going in and starting you week?

 

[PathOne]

Yeah, the "you're normal, why go into path?" is ever so common. Just zip through a path residency, get a Dermpath fellowship at MGH, Ackerman or UCSF, and laugh all the way to the bank, while your OB/GYN, Surg "experts" can't even ever get to the bank before it closes.

 

[drPLUM]

Yeah, the "you're normal, why go into path?" is ever so common. Just zip through a path residency, get a Dermpath fellowship at MGH, Ackerman or UCSF, and laugh all the way to the bank, while your OB/GYN, Surg "experts" can't even ever get to the bank before it closes.

I don't get it either. Software engineers work in a cubicle all day and have much less people contact than path, but no one ever says "software engineering? I thought you were normal."

 

[Zuwie]

Just wanted to share - I met an older Ob/Gyn attending and when I told him I'm interested in pathology, he said: "You've made an excellent choice. It doesn't matter for me now because i'll retire in several years, but if i had to start over again I'd choose pathology."

 

[ilovepath]

of note...i've taken several surveys minus careers in medicine about my compatibility of professions. of the 3 i've taken path was my #1 most compatible field. that combined with my gut feeling tells me i'm making the right choice

 

[LADoc00]

Just wanted to share - I met an older Ob/Gyn attending and when I told him I'm interested in pathology, he said: "You've made an excellent choice. It doesn't matter for me now because i'll retire in several years, but if i had to start over again I'd choose pathology."

Someone said this to me to, looking back on it Im baffled...how the hell would they know about path, they likely never spent a single day doing it! Most people have at least done a obgyn or surg rotation to judge those specialities, but we are talking less than 5% of med school class that has done anything other than listen to lectures about path. Even now most of the medical staff I work with are completely in the dark about what I really do, I might as well be a witch doctor with board certification in shamanic medicine to them.

 

[gungho]

Someone said this to me to, looking back on it Im baffled...how the hell would they know about path, they likely never spent a single day doing it! Most people have at least done a obgyn or surg rotation to judge those specialities, but we are talking less than 5% of med school class that has done anything other than listen to lectures about path. Even now most of the medical staff I work with are completely in the dark about what I really do, I might as well be a witch doctor with board certification in shamanic medicine to them.

yeah, something similar to me: when i informed the medical director of my group (an internist who had been practicing for 20 yr) that i was leaving to start a path residency, he said, "so what will you be doing all day, sitting in a lab?". unbelievable.

 

[ilovepath]

as a courtesy to an ignorant, yet interested ms such as myself...could you elaborate on a day's work for yourself. i only know how path is broken down vaguely. ie
forensics--autopsies, gross samples
surg--frozen sections on cancer specimens
micro--supervising micro personel

 

[yaah]

as a courtesy to an ignorant, yet interested ms such as myself...could you elaborate on a day's work for yourself. i only know how path is broken down vaguely. ie
forensics--autopsies, gross samples
surg--frozen sections on cancer specimens
micro--supervising micro personel

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=147807

See also this: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=201969

 

[mlw03]

So from reading the things here, is it safe to say that my wise move when I'm an MSIII next year would be to NOT tell residents and attendings that I'm leaning towards pathology, and just give a standard, "I'm not sure - I'll decide at the beginning of MSIV after doing a few electives" answer.

 

[yaah]

Just be honest. If they can't handle it, it's their problem and reflects on the smallness of their integrity. It's always best in life to not lie. Now, you don't need to go nuts and brag about going into path and how you never want to deal with another patient again, but at the same time you don't have to make yourself out into a future internist.

 

[mlw03]

Just be honest. If they can't handle it, it's their problem and reflects on the smallness of their integrity. It's always best in life to not lie. Now, you don't need to go nuts and brag about going into path and how you never want to deal with another patient again, but at the same time you don't have to make yourself out into a future internist.

thanks for your thoughts - i'll be curious to hear if others agree. i agree that if others disagree it's their problem and they shouldn't care, but i still don't wanna tick off somebody who's evaluating me. worse, i don't want to tick off a resident early in my medicine rotation and then have them ignore me, and thereby deprive me of the learning that i need and want to do during my clinical time next year.

as to whether it's "always best in life to not lie" - well, that's another discussion for another day. but i'm studying for the step I right now, and if they gimme a question where i can tell a patient they have a terminal disease right after they tell me that if they do that they're gonna go on a killing spree, then i would bet the right response is certainly going to involve either a lie or at least a lie of omission.

 

[beary]

Now, you don't need to go nuts and brag about going into path and how you never want to deal with another patient again,

This is what I have been doing on ob/gyn. Getting me in trouble too.

 

[JaneDough]

15 more days and you can tell them to suck it!

 

[elperro]

Up until now, late in third year, I pretty much told everyone I was interested in pathology and then some other field too, usually surgery, because I honestly had not decided yet. Well, I am sure that I am doing path now, and I tell people I'm going into path. I'm on my surgery rotation now, and all the residents I have told this to think path is a great choice. Then they are jealous, and then usually end the discussion by complaining about their lives.

One surgeon told me that I shouldn't do path because I was "really good with patients," and "why would I never want to interact with people" anymore? Sheesh. Then again, I was in a surgery the other day that went like this:

Attending: So young man, what do you want to go into?
Me: Pathology
Vascular fellow: Those pathologists are some smart f***ers.
Attending: Yeah, they are smart f***ers. Where else do you get home by five, and make good money doing it? Good for you young man.

Enough said. Pathology is a great field.

 

[yaah]

Quite often I see the surgical residents leaving well before I do. Of course, they also (usually) get here earlier and are on call more often.

As has been posted numerous times, don't worry so much about the "you're really good with patients" crap. That's a nice quality but it reflects more on you than on what type of internist you would be. It means you have qualities that will serve you well in whatever career you choose, and doesn't mean that these qualities will be wasted by not having a career where you talk to patients a lot.