Pathology Job Market - How bad is it?

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DrP_dauterman

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Hi Everybody,

My opinion is that the US Pathology Job Market is terrible. There are several pieces of evidence in support of this. One is an ASCP Resident Survey from 1996 available on the internet at:

http://ascp.ais.net/member/rps/surveys/surwi96.asp

An important quote from that article: ..."Almost half (49%) had received no job offer, 30% one offer, 13% two offers, and 4% three offers".

Secondy, if one checks the CAP positions listing service at

http://www.cap.org/html/member/secure/pls.html

As of 1/15/99, the total number of Pathologists Seeking Positions is 182,
the total number of Positions Available is 68 for a ratio of 2.67 job seekers per job. My own experience from dealing with the CAP Positions Listing Service is that many of the Positions Available ads are dated. Even
if you send a resume to a recent listing you will get a polite rejection letter (or NO letter) stating that they have received large numbers of resumes from qualified applicants.

Thirdly, according to an article published in JAMA, the reference is JAMA, 275(9):708-12 1996 Mar 6, "Of those (graduting residents) seeking employment, the percentage who did not find a full-time position in their
specialty or subspecialty ranged between none in urology to 10.8% in pathology".

These articles suggest that Pathologists graduting from training in the US stand a 10.8% chance of being unemployed and a 49% chance of being underemployed and going from Fellowship to Fellowship while searching for
an attending level position.

The experience of the people who graduated from Residency at about the same time I did seems to confirm that the job market is terrible.

Phil Dauterman, MD

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Yes it is terrible. I just finished 1 fellowship (Surgpath) and still can't find a job... already scrambling for another fellowship to keep me busy for a year. I went to a solid program too (ivy in northeast). when I was applied all the residency directors told me lots of pathologists were set to retire soon... HAH. path is a job you can do till you're past 100. Of my residency class of 7, only 4 found jobs and all 4 were after 1 fellowship, 1 guy left after 2nd year to pursue a different specialty, and the remaining 2 of us, are doing another fellowship. it is just really disappointing and with all the cuts from Obamacare (esp the tissue section -50% last year... couple of the local groups had to cut positions) the future doesn't look good for this field.

Even if you enjoyed path during medical school (this is why I chose path) I would really really recommend, from the bottom of my heart that you choose something else. nothing is worse than this misery.
 
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this thread is almost old enough to drive
 
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Yes it is terrible. I just finished 1 fellowship (Surgpath) and still can't find a job... already scrambling for another fellowship to keep me busy for a year. I went to a solid program too (ivy in northeast). when I was applied all the residency directors told me lots of pathologists were set to retire soon... HAH. path is a job you can do till you're past 100. Of my residency class of 7, only 4 found jobs and all 4 were after 1 fellowship, 1 guy left after 2nd year to pursue a different specialty, and the remaining 2 of us, are doing another fellowship. it is just really disappointing and with all the cuts from Obamacare (esp the tissue section -50% last year... couple of the local groups had to cut positions) the future doesn't look good for this field.

Even if you enjoyed path during medical school (this is why I chose path) I would really really recommend, from the bottom of my heart that you choose something else. nothing is worse than this misery.
I don't think Phil Dauterman, MD from Guam will be responding to you anytime soon. It's been 15 years. That being said, he graduated from a Caribbean med school so he may not be indicative of the American medical graduate that matches into Pathology esp. at a top tier program.
 
I don't think Phil Dauterman, MD from Guam will be responding to you anytime soon. It's been 15 years. That being said, he graduated from a Caribbean med school so he may not be indicative of the American medical graduate that matches into Pathology esp. at a top tier program.
Back in the good old days of SDN where we all used our real names without fear of reprisal. Looks like he's a pathologist in Muskogee Oklahoma now.
 
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Back in the good old days of SDN where we all used our real names without fear of reprisal. Looks like he's a pathologist in Muskogee Oklahoma now.
Speaks to how much SDN has grown in power, I think. Always fun to look back at some of the old posts to see what what they worried about at that time. Yes, apparently he works at the VA (God bless him) there.
 
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