stigma

[scienceguy19]

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why does there have to be some kind of stigma for going into pathology? like I'm throwing away all my medical knowledge.

when I told people I was going into pathology in med school, I would get these negative responses. why would you do THAT? OKK you can do whatever you want with your life... only foreign grads do that.... or a derisive laugh

wish people would just understand that we're just as important as other doctors!! it kind of pisses me off.... for other people to LOOK DOWN on us...

 

[scienceguy19]

i mean, we have to work our butts off too!!

 

[Pathman1000]

why does there have to be some kind of stigma for going into pathology? like I'm throwing away all my medical knowledge.

when I told people I was going into pathology in med school, I would get these negative responses. why would you do THAT? OKK you can do whatever you want with your life... only foreign grads do that.... or a derisive laugh

wish people would just understand that we're just as important as other doctors!! it kind of pisses me off.... for other people to LOOK DOWN on us...

Who cares what other people think? I didn't choose pathology because of how someone else sees me, I chose it because I think it's the most fascinating and rewarding field in medicine.

 

[icpshootyz]

Let it roll off your back. Colleagues that utilize pathology services - surgeons, etc - will certainly respect you and utilize your knowledge and expertise. Others may not, but who cares? Choose the field that you see yourself working in for the next 30-40 years. Personally I had zero desire to be in a clinical field, it was pathology or possibly something non-medical. I get paid very well, have a comfortable, flexible, not-very-stressful workday, and my own office where I can do my work in peace. I don't have to follow a clinic schedule or rush around the wards. I rarely get called in after hours or on weekends. I work Mon-Fri, basically banker's hours. There aren't really any other fields that I am envious of in any way. Don't worry what people who know nothing about pathology have to say. You'll be fine.

 

[Over9000]

The stigma does have some importance. The relative prestige of a field is directly related to its political power. I can tell you that the academic idiots who lambaste your choice to go into pathology are often the same people who have the ears of policymakers. You think that they'll realize the importance of pathologists in patient care, or that we are just "lab techs" and "foreigners" who couldn't get into anything good and thus don't "deserve" anything. After all, they worked harder and better to get into more prestigious fields, right?

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

Just look how talented pathologists are

 

[coroner]

Man those guys know how to jam Most of them looked like academic types and/or in their mid 40's and older so they had their heyday before the reimbursement cuts or were not affected, so I have no sympathy for them. Funny now that the fees are slashed, they have no problem mocking how superfluous some of the IHC's were...

 

[stickyshift]

I'm leaving for home about the time some of my clinician colleagues start rounding on their patients.
You have to decide, for the long haul, what's important to you. A lot of clinicians will tell you that missing dinner with their family and getting hauled out of bed most nights gets old really fast.

 

[pathstudent]

I'm leaving for home about the time some of my clinician colleagues start rounding on their patients.
You have to decide, for the long haul, what's important to you. A lot of clinicians will tell you that missing dinner with their family and getting hauled out of bed most nights gets old really fast.

That makes us sound like a bunch of lazy douche bags who don't deserve to get paid as much as primary care docs. I'd be careful before going don that road.

 

[Over9000]

That makes us sound like a bunch of lazy douche bags who don't deserve to get paid as much as primary care docs. I'd be careful before going don that road.

I agree. Not only that, some pathologists are pretty busy at all hours of the night. It's tough to generalize.

The stigma is real, and it does affect us negatively.

We can fix this, but it needs to start at the academic level. Unfortunately, there are just too much incentives to maintain the status quo.

 

[Ziehl-Neelsen]

When I encounter doctors who are truly, incorrigibly dismissive toward the specialty of pathology, I ask them if they want to compare step 1 scores. So far, no takers.