Pathologist ≈ MLT?

[TheDBird90]

As I've said in previous posts, I'm not going to medical school, but instead starting a Medical Laboratory Technology (Associate's) degree at a CC. But then I started think about pathology. I don't know why but it seems really tempting to look into it. Does a pathologist have minimal patient contact? I'm not a people person but really don't mind being around people sometimes. Do pathologists do work that's similar to CLS? In other words, I was pretty (99%) sure I'd never go to medical school, but now pathology sounds really interesting. Of course, there is this thread, which worries me: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/no-jobs-in-pathology.1185558/o What do you all think? Has anyone here started out as MLT/CLS then became a pathologist? Is the work similar or different?

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[Crayola227]

last thread on path jobs said forensic pathology was still a safe market, but it requires training even beyond med school, residency

 

[LizzyM]

The problem with applying to and being admitted to medical school when you don't want to care for patients is that the expected clinical experience prior to medical school admission and the required clinical rotations in the M3 and M4 year of medical school are going to be difficult or uncomfortable for you.

You might want to consider the short-cut of going straight to pathology in a pathology assistant program. Your medical laboratory technology associate degree would be a first step, followed by a bachelor's degree and then on to a masters degree program as a pathologist assistant. You would be finished years sooner than medical school plus residency, at lower cost, and never have to come face to face with a living patient. My understanding is that the job market is good.

 

[TheDBird90]

The problem with applying to and being admitted to medical school when you don't want to care for patients is that the expected clinical experience prior to medical school admission and the required clinical rotations in the M3 and M4 year of medical school are going to be difficult or uncomfortable for you.

You might want to consider the short-cut of going straight to pathology in a pathology assistant program. Your medical laboratory technology associate degree would be a first step, followed by a bachelor's degree and then on to a masters degree program as a pathologist assistant. You would be finished years sooner than medical school plus residency, at lower cost, and never have to come face to face with a living patient. My understanding is that the job market is good.

Thank you so much. I replied to you in "Gross Anatomy detail." Maybe if I work as an MLT, then I could go back to school to be a PA (pathology assistant). I've heard some employers pay for masters programs, so that should be interesting. Thanks guys.

Oh, and I've been interested in forensic pathology. This site (http://explorehealthcareers.org/en/career/119/pathologists_assistant) says that you can even work with postmortem tissue. Wow