Subspecialty boards

[pathstudent]

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Will gi gu breast gyn bone renal and soft tissue ever get their own boards like peds neuro micro cyto derm chemistry and molecular? I hope they do. Why does derm deserve to be boarded but renal and gi do not?

 

[pathstudent]

Will gi gu breast gyn bone renal and soft tissue ever get their own boards like peds neuro micro cyto derm chemistry and molecular? I hope they do. Why does derm deserve to be boarded but renal and gi do not?

It will be good if they are as clinicians can be more confident that they are getting superior pathology. Clinicians are subspecialized. Pathologists should be too. I heard that community practice pathologists sign-out neuropath and hemepath. That is ridiculous. In academics a breast pathologist would never sign out a brain or bone marrow biopsy.

We need subspecialty boards now and where you can only take them if you did a fellowship. NO GRANDFATHERING!!!!!!

 

[Nilf]

Will gi gu breast gyn bone renal and soft tissue ever get their own boards like peds neuro micro cyto derm chemistry and molecular? I hope they do. Why does derm deserve to be boarded but renal and gi do not?

No, they will not.

 

[pathstudent]

No, they will not.

I think there will be if for no other reason that it will raise the quality of pathology and also make some more $$$$$ for the ABP. Remember, at one time there were no boards for derm, neuro and cyto. However when they added those they allowed a period of time for non-fellowship trained community practice pathologists to take the exams. Hopefully they won't do that this time.

 

[caffeinegirl]

sorry to veer slightly off topic...

but I was just checking the online app for subspecialty dermpath boards, and isn't it WAAAY less work than in years past?? In previous years they required # of patients seen, # procedures, # IF seen, # ancillary studies, # cases (inhouse and consults) and # EM cases....? Now it's just your medical license, diploma, and PD's evaluation? Am I missing something??

 

[APCPBBNP]

I think there will be if for no other reason that it will raise the quality of pathology and also make some more $$$$$ for the ABP. Remember, at one time there were no boards for derm, neuro and cyto. However when they added those they allowed a period of time for non-fellowship trained community practice pathologists to take the exams. Hopefully they won't do that this time.

In contrary!
We should fight against GI, GU, GYN and similar non-sense subspecialty fellowships; these fellowships are killing pathology as a field and serve for no other purposes but to produce "commodities" for pod labs.

 

[2121115]

You can't do a fellowship in everything. If we get to the point where you can't sign out a case unless you did a fellowship in it then pathology will be much less of an attractive field (to people like me anyway).

 

[path24]

Fellowships are what is wrong with pathology. If you can't sign out a breast case, neuro case, and heme case in the same day...you are a poor pathologist. A clinician that thinks he needs a gi pathologist to sign out gi cases is also clueless. Specialists are for the zebras....and zebras are not common.

Fellowships just help support that residency programs are getting worse when it comes to training and that the job market is crap.

 

[yaah]

Yeah I agree. Fellowships in surgery are also what's wrong with medicine, since cutting and tying are the same no matter what organ you are operating on. 🙄

 

[lipomas]

Fellowships are what is wrong with pathology. If you can't sign out a breast case, neuro case, and heme case in the same day...you are a poor pathologist. A clinician that thinks he needs a gi pathologist to sign out gi cases is also clueless. Specialists are for the zebras....and zebras are not common.

Fellowships just help support that residency programs are getting worse when it comes to training and that the job market is crap.

Good lord you're an ignorant sort. Do you have any experience in the real world or not? I suspect you are either a junior resident who thinks he knows everything or in a small practice in which you think you're making adequate diagnoses on things when in actuality you're not. The practice of medicine has grown inordinately more complex in the past 50 years. Fellowships are a natural outgrowth of this. 100 years ago there was only one real kind of doctor, because everyone did everything. Then there were surgeons and non-surgeons. Then people started to focus on one thing (like pathology, or heart surgery, or infectious diseases) because they learned that focus brought improvement in knowledge and patient care. As the body of knowledge grows, specialization increased even more. There are now infectious disease specialists who practice almost exclusively on patients with HIV. Or patients with TB. Why should pathology be any different.

Of course you don't need a fellowship-trained person to sign out every GI case. And of course years of experience as well as careful attention to scientific progress and clinical diagnostic methods can substitute for a fellowship. But neither of these statements implies that fellowships are useless.

Good lord, why did I just spend five minutes replying to your pathetic ignorant comment?


Let's extend the job market bull**** some more:
Did you know I went to the grocery store yesterday and the price of tomatoes had gone up like 50%? That proves that the pathology job market sucks and that academic pathologists are perpetuating it for their own selfish needs. How is that, you say? If you're so ignorant that you can't make that connection then I feel sorry for you, and you are a major part of the problem.

 

[Gene_]

Good lord, why did I just spend five minutes replying to your pathetic ignorant comment?

I don't know, but I totally agree with you.

 

[path24]

89% of residents do fellowships. 3% get jobs. "Fellowship trends of Pathology residents...Archives"

This is way to high of a percentage and in my opinion is one of the major problems with pathology. Yes, I think fellowships are a problem.

I didn't mean to come across as there is no need for any fellowships. Obviously we need top academic places pushing the envelope. Some are needed, but 89% is crazy.

 

[SLUsagar]

I heard that community practice pathologists sign-out neuropath and hemepath. That is ridiculous.

yes, these "community pathologists" also sign out derm, cytology, and autopsy cases. I've heard they even have been known to be able to wipe their own asses with TP, in the absence of an academic research lab providing evidence that ass-wiping with TP status post pooing actually helps remove remnant fecal material around the anus.

 

[wild0ne]

yes, these "community pathologists" also sign out derm, cytology, and autopsy cases. I've heard they even have been known to be able to wipe their own asses with TP, in the absence of an academic research lab providing evidence that ass-wiping with TP status post pooing actually helps remove remnant fecal material around the anus.

Well said.

Lipomas makes an excellent point. I do agree that medial education and training is inefficient, and this suspiciously seems to benefit schools and medical centers. However, specialization is beneficial - both for physicians and patients. But, that's not the point of the thread.

To the OP, in one of the meeting minutes of a specialty that is currently non-boarded, an obstacle that was raised by a few was that practicing physicians would pursue legal action to block attempts at boarding the specialty. If I was in practice, I'd be worried that suddenly I'd be less marketable because I was not 'board-certified', even though I was equally qualified as those that were.