Surg Path fellowship worthless?

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ElementMD

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I am applying for fellowships currently. Aside from improving your confidence and competence, is a gen surg path fellowship something that will make me more marketable when looking for jobs?

I have heard mixed things: "only do surg if its from MSK or Hopkins, etc..."

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I would do it if you can't find a good job...otherwise it's a waste of time. It doesn't make one more marketable. A year doing general practice is infinitely more valuable because you own the cases. Even if there's a hotseat rotation or "graduated responsibility", you're still not signing out your own cases.

FWIW you don't see any other medical specialties doing a fellowship that is simply a 5th year of residency...
 
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It’s a year of lost income for something you should have learned in residency. Unless you want to do something esoteric like medical renal or your residency was crap, might as well do a boarded fellowship and get street cred.
 
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The surgpath fellowship is a reflection of a tight job market.

Here in Canada we have one of these that is basically just a way to kill time while waiting for a job to open up in the GTA.
 
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I think an SP fellowship is much more valuable if you go to a place with independent sign out (instructor rank) and/or one with enough flexibility to offer enough time to also pick up a non boarded speciality (GI, GU or similar).

Below is unrelated but I didn’t think worthy of another thread.
Recommend everyone here interested in the path job market and the importance of training spots relative to need read the thread in Rad/Onc about ASTRO statement on job market and overtraining.
 
I am applying for fellowships currently. Aside from improving your confidence and competence, is a gen surg path fellowship something that will make me more marketable when looking for jobs?

I have heard mixed things: "only do surg if its from MSK or Hopkins, etc..."
Yes I think it’s good experience but yes, make sure you go to a reputable place which isn’t hard to get into at all.

I think it’s good to go to a busy place so that if you want to join a busy group, you will be than ready to hit the ground running.

A CV showing that you did a surgpath fellowship at a renowned reputable institution will be helpful when applying to busy groups.

I don’t think it’s a waste of time at all. I would try to go to a place where you can do electives and focus on your weaknesses.

If you go to MSK be ready to work 14-16 hour days.
 
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Thank you everyone for the feedback. I had an intereview a couple of weeks ago at a program that seemed understaffed and really just needed a warm body. I thought, red flag at first but it could be an experience with taking ownership of my own cases.

Also, they said they will allow 4 months to concentrate on a specific discipline.

So if I did a 4 month derm concentration there do you think that would be enough to get hired as the "derm guy" at a place?
Might be a nice way to sneak into derm through the side door.
 
If you go to MSK be ready to work 14-16 hour days.
Not true, if you can manage your time efficiently you won't stay longer than 10 hours max, even on the very busy rotations.
 
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Not true, if you can manage your time efficiently you won't stay longer than 10 hours max, even on the very busy rotations.
Busy nonetheless but a good surgpath fellowship.
 
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Thank you everyone for the feedback. I had an intereview a couple of weeks ago at a program that seemed understaffed and really just needed a warm body. I thought, red flag at first but it could be an experience with taking ownership of my own cases.

Also, they said they will allow 4 months to concentrate on a specific discipline.

So if I did a 4 month derm concentration there do you think that would be enough to get hired as the "derm guy" at a place?
Might be a nice way to sneak into derm through the side door.
People might dump hard derm cases off on you more often but they will not pay you more nor will they hire you as a dermpath. I would say do a derm fellowship and get boarded if you want to be the derm guy.
 
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Thank you everyone for the feedback. I had an intereview a couple of weeks ago at a program that seemed understaffed and really just needed a warm body. I thought, red flag at first but it could be an experience with taking ownership of my own cases.

Also, they said they will allow 4 months to concentrate on a specific discipline.

So if I did a 4 month derm concentration there do you think that would be enough to get hired as the "derm guy" at a place?
Might be a nice way to sneak into derm through the side door.
I think most employers would want a boarded dermpath fellowship trained pathologist for marketing reasons and for legal/liability reasons.

Of course 4 months of dermpath would be somewhat attractive to some groups. Better than nothing.
 
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Thank you everyone for the feedback. I had an intereview a couple of weeks ago at a program that seemed understaffed and really just needed a warm body. I thought, red flag at first but it could be an experience with taking ownership of my own cases.

Also, they said they will allow 4 months to concentrate on a specific discipline.

So if I did a 4 month derm concentration there do you think that would be enough to get hired as the "derm guy" at a place?
Might be a nice way to sneak into derm through the side door.
Maybe it would get you hired at a small group practice where you could read the skin excisions from general surgeons, the vulvar biopsies and skin biopsies done by general practitioners, but without a true dermpath fellowship and dermpath board certification you'll never convince a single dermatologist to send you their cases. Which any path group should know. So no, doing 4 months of dermpath during a surgpath fellowship will not get you into dermpath as a career and will not likely make you any more marketable than doing just the surgpath fellowship.
 
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Maybe it would get you hired at a small group practice where you could read the skin excisions from general surgeons, the vulvar biopsies and skin biopsies done by general practitioners, but without a true dermpath fellowship and dermpath board certification you'll never convince a single dermatologist to send you their cases. Which any path group should know. So no, doing 4 months of dermpath during a surgpath fellowship will not get you into dermpath as a career and will not likely make you any more marketable than doing just the surgpath fellowship.
And even with a dermpath board certification, it takes time for all the dermatologists in an institution to develop trust in a path trained dermpath guy when it comes to rashes especially if a derm trained one is available!
 
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Surgpath fellowship is GREAT for small community based "I see all comers" applicants.

Very solid for "Rural Deluxe" groups. I would prefer a fellowship that was a hybrid like Surg Path + Heme so you can pick up an extra BC but otherwise fine alone.
 
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And even with a dermpath board certification, it takes time for all the dermatologists in an institution to develop trust in a path trained dermpath guy when it comes to rashes especially if a derm trained one is available!
Yep. Many of the labs near me tout their derm-trained dermpaths as a perk. We path-trained folks don't have the same curb appeal and it does take much longer to gain acceptance.
 
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Thank you everyone for the feedback. I had an intereview a couple of weeks ago at a program that seemed understaffed and really just needed a warm body. I thought, red flag at first but it could be an experience with taking ownership of my own cases.

Also, they said they will allow 4 months to concentrate on a specific discipline.

So if I did a 4 month derm concentration there do you think that would be enough to get hired as the "derm guy" at a place?
Might be a nice way to sneak into derm through the side door.

Four months isn't enough to become adept at dermpath, particularly without any clinical exposure. Your extra time learning dermpath during a surgpath fellowship will be of little use in the real world.
 
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Four months isn't enough to become adept at dermpath, particularly without any clinical exposure. Your extra time learning dermpath during a surgpath fellowship will be of little use in the real world.
Disagree it’ll help somewhat. Depends on the volume of cases that he or she will be seeing. Better than nothing. Don’t expect to be an expert though with four months. If it’s a weakness of yours I’d do electives in it.
 
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