Why is dermpath #1

[alabaster]

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So it seems the general consensus is that dermpath is #1 with GI and GU in second place for hot fellowships. I get the general reasons for this but can anyone explain just how superior dermpath is to GI, GU, cyto and heme in terms of money, lifestyle, job opps and quality of work. i.e. does dermpath blow all the others away or is it only marginally better?
Thanks

 

[RyMcQ]

So it seems the general consensus is that dermpath is #1 with GI and GU in second place for hot fellowships. I get the general reasons for this but can anyone explain just how superior dermpath is to GI, GU, cyto and heme in terms of money, lifestyle, job opps and quality of work. i.e. does dermpath blow all the others away or is it only marginally better?
Thanks

My advice is to not take the advice of anonymous med students so seriously.

The superiority of one fellowship will vary from person to person. If I had to sign out skins all day, I'd kill myself.

 

[yaah]

My advice is to not take the advice of anonymous med students so seriously.

Seconded.

One problem with these forums is that anecdotal experience quickly becomes a trend. Dermpath is a field which needs more people, thus the job market (right now) is more open and salaries tend to be higher. Partly because skin specimens are very common, partly because many of them are easy and some are very hard and require experience (thus the need for a fellowship- if everything was easy, no need for it).

Nothing is going to blow anything else away. While the average dermpath boarded person may make more than the average cytopath boarded person, this doesn't mean much for the individual candidate.

The best fellowship for anyone is the one they are interested in. It makes you better at it, which makes you more desirable for employment, and it makes you more productive, etc.

 

[LADoc00]

So it seems the general consensus is that dermpath is #1 with GI and GU in second place for hot fellowships. I get the general reasons for this but can anyone explain just how superior dermpath is to GI, GU, cyto and heme in terms of money, lifestyle, job opps and quality of work. i.e. does dermpath blow all the others away or is it only marginally better?
Thanks

There is no general consensus. AND even if there was, things could change on a DIME! Tommorrow the HHS department could change medicare reimbursements for skin biopsies 88305 to a new code, say 88399, and give 20 bucks per on it, causing insurers to also change their rates. A derm only practice would go from being well off to not making payroll. That has happened with other things and CAN happen easily with skins.(as an example flow professional reibursements were slashed by over 80% with one simple memo from the government).

You can become wealthy doing almost anything in pathology and consequently you can be dirt poor even if you have the best dermpath practice in the world, most of it will come down to how you manage money and business. So in that sense, the best fellowship is always an MBA. Ive said this many times...

 

[dermpathlover]

There is no general consensus. AND even if there was, things could change on a DIME! Tommorrow the HHS department could change medicare reimbursements for skin biopsies 88305 to a new code, say 88399, and give 20 bucks per on it, causing insurers to also change their rates. A derm only practice would go from being well off to not making payroll. That has happened with other things and CAN happen easily with skins.(as an example flow professional reibursements were slashed by over 80% with one simple memo from the government).

...

No way will that happen to D-path. It happened in H-path because some unscrupolous hematopathologists would order huge panels of antibodies at every flow and rack up the bill for medicare rather than doing the appropriate amount to rule in and rule out what was in the differential. Those a-holes screwed it up for everybody.

They won't change the CPT for a derm biopsy unless they do it for all biopsies. However, they might cut the compensation for an 88305 in half to $20, and if that happens we are all screwed (both future d-pathers like me and gen surg pathers).

Medicare needs to start raising compensation instead of slashing it. If a pathologists made $80 in 1985 for an 88305 (supposedly what 88305 once paid from medicare), he should be making $320 now because if you look at the cost of university and gas and housing it all costs 4 times as much.

Instead it is the other way around. 🙁

 

[Epstein]

No way will that happen to D-path.

If dermpath is as universally kickass as you say, maybe one day someone will notice that you are making a disproportionate amount of money compared to your colleagues in other path subspecialties, in which case you will be targetted for reimbursement cuts.

I hereby propose that dermpathlover should change his name to dermpathfanboy.

 

[Cabbage Head]

If dermpath is as universally kickass as you say, maybe one day someone will notice that you are making a disproportionate amount of money compared to your colleagues in other path subspecialties, in which case you will be targetted for reimbursement cuts.

I hereby propose that dermpathlover should change his name to dermpathfanboy.

or dermpathfanboi

Everyone always thinks that it won't happen to them. Then the reimbursement for phacoemulsification gets cut to 1/5 of what it was and you aren't making jack. Or your technical component for outpatient rads gets cut by 20-70% (as of 2007) and you wonder how the hell yer gonna afford to keep that magnet running.

/incoming rads fanboi army

 

[DarksideAllstar]

or dermpathfanboi

or iwannadodermpathbutireallysuckatexpressingmyselfexceptatamostsuperficiallevelandiwillbeluckytogetanyfellowshipboi (no offense)

 

[alabaster]

or iwannadodermpathbutireallysuckatexpressingmyselfexceptatamostsuperficiallevelandiwillbeluckytogetanyfellowshipboi (no offense)

I detect jealousy of those who are trying to position themselves for the best possible career path. I'm guessing some of you are in a better position to score a dermpath spot than others. Why the scorn?

 

[yaah]

I detect jealousy of those who are trying to position themselves for the best possible career path. I'm guessing some of you are in a better position to score a dermpath spot than others. Why the scorn?

Because those who choose to do dermpath solely (or mostly) because it may portend a higher salary and better job prospects are probably in for a rude awakening.

Jealousy? Of what? Someone expressing the desire to make money? OK

 

[deschutes]

I thought the gunner way to get what Gunner wants is to sneak around and keep all the dermpath fellowship application secrets to Gunnerself so that Gunner doesn't tip off the competition and ruin Gunner's chances for good placement... Derm cheerleaders beware!

"Dermpath is K-O-O-L, YEAAHHHH!
Dermpath ROCKS!!
Dermpath here we come, YEAAHHH!!"
👍 😍

...and etc.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I detect jealousy of those who are trying to position themselves for the best possible career path. I'm guessing some of you are in a better position to score a dermpath spot than others. Why the scorn?

I admit, I am insanely jealous of those that can force themselves to look at skin for 6-8 hours each day and never grow tired of looking for that one poly, eosinophil, or little blob of hemosiderin. I feel like the poster in question is solely interested in this particular fellowship for financial reasons (which isn't terrible, imo). Sure, I would love to make big money and live in a nice place when I finally finish up, but at what expense? I cannot force myself to do something mindnumbing (to me, anyway) just to make that extra $. I suspect that the poster in question has yet to even sit in at a derm path signout, and has little knowledge of the field other than what people have told him. Of course, all of these are assumptions on my part (and I am more than willing to be corrected), but the poster's tone of voice and abrasiveness towards anything not derm, well, is comical. So yeah, I am jealous that I can't do something just for the $ (otherwise I might have done something else with my life). My jealousy has very little to do with how somone is positioning themselves as a 4th year med student or R1 to get a dermpath fellowship.

 

[DarksideAllstar]

I thought the gunner way to get what Gunner wants is to sneak around and keep all the dermpath fellowship application secrets to Gunnerself so that Gunner doesn't tip off the competition and ruin Gunner's chances for good placement... Derm cheerleaders beware!

"Dermpath is K-O-O-L, YEAAHHHH!
Dermpath ROCKS!!
Dermpath here we come, YEAAHHH!!"
👍 😍

...and etc.

Sgt. Slaughter says, "Say no to Gunners."

 

[yaah]

I thought the gunner way to get what Gunner wants is to sneak around and keep all the dermpath fellowship application secrets to Gunnerself so that Gunner doesn't tip off the competition and ruin Gunner's chances for good placement... Derm cheerleaders beware!

"Dermpath is K-O-O-L, YEAAHHHH!
Dermpath ROCKS!!
Dermpath here we come, YEAAHHH!!"
👍 😍

...and etc.

Nah, gunners don't really do that. The true gunner is supremely confident anyway. The true gunner may try to sabotage others' applications, however!

By the way, it is spelled K-E-W-L 😉

Personally, I like lots of fields of path - I have a bit of an aversion to GYN path because of all the needless semantics that are involved, and breast path is just tough unless you see a lot of it. I found derm fascinating too - but I see what people mean about getting sick of seeing it all day.

 

[CameronFrye]

There is no general consensus. AND even if there was, things could change on a DIME! Tommorrow the HHS department could change medicare reimbursements for skin biopsies 88305 to a new code, say 88399, and give 20 bucks per on it, causing insurers to also change their rates. A derm only practice would go from being well off to not making payroll. That has happened with other things and CAN happen easily with skins.(as an example flow professional reibursements were slashed by over 80% with one simple memo from the government).

You can become wealthy doing almost anything in pathology and consequently you can be dirt poor even if you have the best dermpath practice in the world, most of it will come down to how you manage money and business. So in that sense, the best fellowship is always an MBA. Ive said this many times...

This is exactly why I think you should always diversify your skill set. Is CP gonna do me much good in the future? Probably not, but it'll be on the resume just in case I have to go run a micro lab for 75K a year once anatomic path is destroyed as a field.

As for dermpathboy's man-crush on dermpath, med students always seem to make this mistake. They chase the hot field. Now is not the time to be going into anesthesia or rads. The mid-1990s when anesthesiology had a 10% unemployment rate was the time to go into it.

 

[deschutes]

Nah, gunners don't really do that. The true gunner is supremely confident anyway. The true gunner may try to sabotage others' applications, however!

Pseudo-gunner then.

By the way, it is spelled K-E-W-L 😉

...in Michigan maybe 😛 Haven't you heard of KOOL-Aid?

Personally, I like lots of fields of path - I have a bit of an aversion to GYN path because of all the needless semantics that are involved, and breast path is just tough unless you see a lot of it. I found derm fascinating too - but I see what people mean about getting sick of seeing it all day.

You're just jealous.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Sgt. Slaughter says, "Say no to Gunners."

Mr. T says "No" to Sgt. Slaughter.

don't click me

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I thought the gunner way to get what Gunner wants is to sneak around and keep all the dermpath fellowship application secrets to Gunnerself so that Gunner doesn't tip off the competition and ruin Gunner's chances for good placement... Derm cheerleaders beware!

You'd be surprised...I'm sure this actually happens. People in medicine can be so juvenile...oh wait (looks at self).