Rate this: Psych vs. Path stress levels/$

[Solideliquid]

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Hello!

I am an MSIV starting a path elective (my second to last rotation) this week. I have always been slightly interested in Path, but since my psych rotations I pretty much fell in love with psych.

Would you all please lend me your experiences in path and compare (if you know anyone doing a psych residency) the levels of stress one feels during psych and path residencies. Which in your opinion is the more demanding residency? (how long is path anyway? Psych is 4 years)

Finally how much money can a pathologist expect to earn after practicing a few years? Compared to a psychiatrist?

Thanks in advance!

PS Im going to post this on the psych board too...tee hee.

 

[deschutes]

Chances are you are going to find that they are equally stressful, though in vastly different ways.

As a pathologist-to-be you will learn an entirely different set of skills from a psychiatrist-to-be. Each have their own rightly-deserved place, and neither is more important than the other.

I would caution you that if you are picking a specialty based on income, stress levels and length of residency training, you are going to be very very unhappy.

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[yaah]

I would caution you that if you are picking a specialty based on income, stress levels and length of residency training, you are going to be very very unhappy.

That's the key.

A residency you don't enjoy or are not compatible with (learning style and day to day life) is going to be very stressful regardless of how "busy" it is. I could never stand a psych residency. It was oddly calming, in a way, and not stressful, because everyone else was crazier than me and for some reason I can keep an even keel. Path I like - I have some 14-16 hour days but it is all interesting.

I'm tired of posting about salary so I am not going to do it anymore unless I get the occasional hidden information.

 

[JaneDough]

I'm probably going to regret posting this b/c it's not like I actually know what it is like to practice pathology or anything. This is just what I have observed during my rotations. Maybe the practicing pathologists can speak to whether this is accurate or not.

I interpret the stress of Pathology as being very different from the stress in other fields, but in a more subtle, different way.
In some fields it seems that the stress comes from external sources like screaming nurses and time (select the appropriate treatment RIGHT NOW pt will die). Contrast this to Pathology where you have time to be very thorough when selecting your answers. However, the stress lies in the fact that what you ultimately decide has dire consequences. If you call prostate cancer, some guy most likely have his prostate out. Or worse, you say the prostate is B9, and he actually has cancer.

So, despite the fact that (some) path labs are quiet, the decisions made there set an extremely serious sequence of events into motion. Basically I interpret the stress to be more internal vs. something like psych where the MDD pt doing the crack-heroin dance is trying to climb out the window and into oncoming traffic is right is in front of you demanding immediate action.

I would wait until you finish your path rotation to decide if you want to give up psych for path. I originally thought I wanted to do psych, until I did the rotation. It turns out that psych is more of an interesting intellectual exercise that anything I would actually want to deal w/ every day. 🙂 Like the others said, a decision based on any other variable will leave you bitter and cranky. And nobody likes a bitter and cranky doctor 😉

Just my $0.02

 

[Aubrey]

I'll second that notion.. I too was one who came down to deciding between psych and path. Both have very interesting subject matter, but it really comes down to "how do I want to spend my day?" For me, the answer to that questions did not include dealing with borderlines, medication compliance, drugseekers, etc.. of course the fact that I enjoyed surg path so much helped too!

 

[LADoc00]

If you are deciding between those two please dont do path...I beg you...please.

 

[Aubrey]

If you are deciding between those two please dont do path...I beg you...please.

Quit harshing my buzz, man.

 

[Solideliquid]

I see what you guys are saying about choosing a field based on how I will like/be treated in residency. Let me make myself clear, I did not pass on a career in surgery because it has one of the toughest training programs in medicine. I passed because I was not interested in surgery.

My first day in my path elective was very nice. There are three MD pathologist and they were all very nice and laid-back with me (Im a laid-back kinda guy, myself). The hours in this elective are basically up to me as I do not have to nor do I have permission to actively participate in the work going on. I did get a chance to go over last Fridays slides with one of the doctors and managed to spot sarcoid on a brain slide (he was impressed, of course he gave me a hint = granuloma in the brain). Other than that I observed grossing of a toe with gangreen, a placenta and a kidney that had a carcinoma. It seemed very interesting but my first impression was I didn't seem to see myself sitting there carving up dead tissue all day.

We'll see how it goes. Thanks for all your replies docs!

 

[yaah]

Grossing in specimens is a big part of residency but it isn't everything. And it can be interesting too - trying to demonstrate lesions, etc. I wouldn't assume you would not like it based on viewing a couple of specimens. But bear in mind also that most path residents merely tolerate it. Very few people live to gross.

 

[CameronFrye]

Yeah, most of the residents I know can't wait to be attendings and leave the grossing far behind. And of course, even as a resident, you won't be grossing everyday (at most places anyway).

 

[LADoc00]

Yeah, most of the residents I know can't wait to be attendings and leave the grossing far behind. And of course, even as a resident, you won't be grossing everyday (at most places anyway).

HUH? Put down yur crack pipe, a vast majority of groups gross their own cases now, PAs can command six figure salaries and when compensation went south, they were the first to go. Sure if you are at Stanford Med Center, you wont have to gross jack but you wont be making jack either.

Dude, I grossed in like a Thai kid working in a Nike sweatshop last week (complete with ripped up scrub pants, wife beater and bandana to keep the sweat off my specimens), easily 2x my busiest day as a resident, no lie.

Im confused, how many residents do you think become attendings in path at academic centers? Maybe 1 in 20, probably way less.

 

[Brian Pavlovitz]

HUH? Put down yur crack pipe, a vast majority of groups gross their own cases now, PAs can command six figure salaries and when compensation went south, they were the first to go. Sure if you are at Stanford Med Center, you wont have to gross jack but you wont be making jack either.

Dude, I grossed in like a Thai kid working in a Nike sweatshop last week (complete with ripped up scrub pants, wife beater and bandana to keep the sweat off my specimens), easily 2x my busiest day as a resident, no lie.

Im confused, how many residents do you think become attendings in path at academic centers? Maybe 1 in 20, probably way less.

Yeah, the PA's here make a pretty good buck, but then again, the attendings don't have to gross anything.

 

[CameronFrye]

HUH? Put down yur crack pipe, a vast majority of groups gross their own cases now, PAs can command six figure salaries and when compensation went south, they were the first to go. Sure if you are at Stanford Med Center, you wont have to gross jack but you wont be making jack either.

Dude, I grossed in like a Thai kid working in a Nike sweatshop last week (complete with ripped up scrub pants, wife beater and bandana to keep the sweat off my specimens), easily 2x my busiest day as a resident, no lie.

Im confused, how many residents do you think become attendings in path at academic centers? Maybe 1 in 20, probably way less.

Wow, that sounds like a crappy job. I hope you didn't put too much time and effort into landing that position. 😎

But seriously, the few private practice pathologists that I've actually seen in action will check out the gross specimen on some frozens, but I haven't seen them grossing in routine cases. Of course, I'm sure my sample size is much smaller than yours, so I will defer to you on this.