Briggsie said:
Hi, Mindy,
Could you please describe what a typical day on service (ie. Surgical Pathology) at the MGH is like?
Sure:
8:00am to ~11:30am: Sign-out
11:30-12:30pm: Order stains, scut/clean-up, preview "outs" (see next), lunch, gossip, free-time.
12:30pm-1:30pm: Surgical pathology OUTs (unknown) conference (10 cases a day)
1:30-2:30pm: Didatic Lecture or scope session (generally first years)
2:30-7:00pm: Grossing is usually done in this block of time. Efficiency and number of specimens dictates how much time it takes. On "heavy rotations" expect to spend most of this time grossing. On light rotations, much less.
4:00pm: Slides start coming out.
7:00pm (latest) to 10:00pm (latest): Slide previewing
[[Disclaimer: these numbers are placed to show the longest possible hours spent at the hospital on weekdays, not implying that this is how late you are always at the hospital. And remember, that with the rarest of exceptions, you are home every night as a pathologist, and that your weekends are nearly free. And because I know you are going to ask, I spent about half of my first year weekdays at work until 10:00pm--but I am a slow slide previewer, and most of my colleagues were gone well before me. I also would eat dinner at home with my husband for an hour or two almost evert night, and then go back to work.]]]
This is the schedule that surg path revolves around, at least in the first year.
Good Luck!
Mindy