Despite all the advances across various scientific disciplines, the diagnosis of solid tumors is still largely dependent on what is visible under the Pathologist’s microscope, where life and death fight a cellular bullfight in an illuminated circle. The Pathologist’s job is to find the bull among the mat... Continue Reading
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Explore Career Despite all the advances across various scientific disciplines, the diagnosis of solid tumors is still largely dependent on what is visible under the Pathologist’s microscope, where life and death fight a cellular bullfight in an illuminated circle. The Pathologist’s job is to find the bull among the matador cells because...what the Pathologist thinks today, the physician does tomorrow.
What are the typical responsibilities of a Pathologist?
A Pathologist would typically need to:
Pathology being a vast field, work conditions vary. Most Pathologists work in hospitals, offices, classrooms, and laboratories, which are usually well equipped, attractive, well lighted, and well ventilated. Pathologists often work alone but may be required to present evidence of their findings in writing or orally to stakeholders or work with healthcare scientists in the medical laboratory. You may also attend clinical meetings with a range of doctors, nurses, and other multi-professional staff.
Outpatient clinics and ward rounds offer opportunities for contact with patients in most specialties of pathology. Within histopathology, patient contact is limited unless you undertake a specific role, such as taking fine-needle aspiration cytology specimens in breast clinics or holding joint specialist clinics with surgeons.
While working hours are typically varied and often on a rotating shift, Pathologists generally work between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. However, the specific industry they work in may stretch the workweek to beyond 40 hours.
Furthermore, your employer and your chosen specialty may need you to work nights, weekends, or be on call. Most trainees at the foundation, core, and higher-level will be expected to work on-call.
Part-time work augurs well for a good work/life balance. Short-term employment contracts would be the norm for core and specialty trainees.
Pathologists may work in any of the three main areas of the discipline, as teachers, investigators, or diagnosticians. Physicians may choose to practice solo or in a group practice. They may opt to be employed by or work on an independent contractor basis with health care facilities. They may choose temporary locum tenens positions offered by practices, hospitals, or healthcare organizations with an unfilled clinical need.
Pathologists are generally employed by:
Healthcare associations like the International Academy of Pathology (IAP) provide unparalleled networking and educational opportunities. They offer all the certification courses members will need throughout their professional careers.
Affiliated Pathologists may attend conventions, seminars, and dinners frequented by peers, mentors, and other industry leaders. The events help them keep up with the newest breakthroughs and latest developments in the field, including plum jobs.
Medical students complete rotations during the latter half of their medical program. They understand patient care, situations, scenarios, and the teams that come together to help the patients. By the time they are done with the rotations, students generally gain more clarity on the specialties and healthcare environments that fit their particular interests and skill sets and make informed decisions.
To show their commitment to the long qualifying period, every applicant to a medical program needs work experience in their local hospital, health clinic, doctor's surgery, nursing home, elder care facility, or mental health trust. It will help them to understand some of the physical and emotional demands of a career in medicine.
Some teaching hospitals also offer work experience in their pathology departments, specifically for secondary school students interested in a medical degree and a career as a Pathologist. It can be a useful way to gain early insight.
As in any career, reading as much as possible about the profession, talking with a high school counselor, and interviewing those working in pathology are other important ways to explore your interest.
Performing community service and research work during your undergraduate studies will also prove helpful. Ensure all your experience is documented on letters of recommendation, which can later add value to your medical school applications.
Pathologists begin gaining first-hand experience while in medical school through clinical training in pathology. After graduating from an accredited medical school, they gain further experience in a four- to five-year residency program.
Medical school is a must for aspiring Pathologists. However, there are no shortcuts to entering the medical profession. Requirements are an MD degree from an accredited medical school, a licensing examination, a residency, and an internship. The entire program may take you around fifteen years to complete.
Some locations offer prospective Pathologists the option to do a pre-med course or study subjects like microbiology, biochemistry, human anatomy, advanced mathematics, statistics, and English at the college level. Most students apply to several medical schools early in their senior year of college, armed with competitive grade point averages (GPAs), competitive scores in accredited medical college admission tests, and professor recommendations.
Medical school typically takes four years to complete; two years of classroom work followed by two years in a hospital or clinical setting with exposure to real-life medical issues. Students undertake rotations or brief periods of study in specific areas such as bodily systems and major diseases during this time. They also learn to take medical histories, examine patients, and diagnose illnesses. Pathology is not a required rotation but may be taken as an elective.
Upon passing through the program, the freshly-minted MDs must then complete residencies and pass various stages of a medical licensing examination before, during, and after the program. Residency programs generally last four to five years in a specialty area such as anatomic pathology or the recommended combined track of anatomic/clinical pathology.
Some Pathologists may choose to undertake further training in sub-specialties like blood banking/transfusion medicine or cytopathology. They must complete a one- to two-year-long fellowship program that is way more intensive than a residency.
There may be opportunities to conduct research tailored to your specific career interests. Specializations such as surgical pathology may include rotations in different sub-disciplines such as gastrointestinal, breast, soft tissue, and gynecologic pathology.
Some locations will allow you to apply for a four-year accelerated graduate entry medicine program if you already have a degree with a high GPA in a science subject other than medicine. Others offer a foundation or gateway degree that adds a preliminary year to the medical program if the successful applicant has a degree in a non-science subject.
Individuals who earn a bachelor’s degree in pathology may find employment as laboratory technologists, but growth opportunities are limited. Those with a master’s degree in biochemistry, microbiology, animal pathology, plant pathology may qualify for applied research or teaching.
Take college preparatory courses in biology, chemistry, physics, and calculus in high school. Enhance your communication skills through English composition, speech, foreign language, and drama classes. Enroll in a psychology class to learn about human nature and explore the mind-body connection.
A forward-looking Pathologist may pursue Board certification in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology, or a combination of the two.
Additional certification in eleven subspecialties, including clinical informatics, cytopathology, dermatopathology, hematopathology, and neuropathology, may also be available, although there is potential for combining this training with the standard pathology residency program.
Some locations specify that applicants seeking certification must have graduated from an accredited medical school, obtained a medical license, completed a pathology residency, and passed written and practical certification testing.
As is the case with any other medical specialists, a Pathologist requires a license to practice. In most cases, this would warrant an MD or DO degree. Successful completion of the subsequent residency in anatomical or clinical pathology or both would license the candidate as an AP/CP Pathologist.
Broadly, there are two fields Pathologists can explore, consultancy and teaching. Depending on your specialty, you may have to be geographically mobile to move up to the next level in your career.
As a consultant, you gradually gain experience with clinical duties and can slowly take on more responsibilities. You can soon move into managerial roles, initially as a Medical Lead (a lead consultant for a team), then as a Clinical Director (a lead consultant for a department), and later as a Medical Director (a lead consultant for a hospital trust).
If you are set on scientific research or academics, you should take the plunge as early as your foundation training in order to have a fighting chance in this highly competitive field.
Pathologists interested in teaching future doctors may become a Director of Medical Education, Training Program Director, or Associate Dean in charge of the entire training program. There are opportunities to work in the private sector or to set up your practice as well.
Jobs in Pathology are very competitive and expand further as the population ages and becomes more susceptible to illness. Having experience will help you to get the job you want.
Continuing professional development (CPD) is especially important in the healthcare sector as it has important implications for public wellbeing. Ideal career progression happens when Pathologists actively choose to expand their skill-sets and meet their respective regulatory bodies’ requirements.
In recent years, an important consideration in medical education has been transforming the masses of facts and skills that doctors accumulate in their training into adaptive clinical skills that work in the real world.
The central concern of CPD is that of lifelong learning with its application to professional lives. CPD is more than just a policy or some form of bureaucratic procedure. It is not just a set of boxes to be ticked mindlessly. It is value-laden and embraces several new learning objectives, educational methodologies, and novel technological developments, especially in education, management, and IT.
Reflective learning, interaction with peer groups, comprehensive inclusion, workshops, professional publications serve to educate, influence, support, and foster lifelong enlightenment in all career-grade Pathologists.
Further education may come in handy, although it is not mandated. However, Pathologists keen on an academic research career need to acquire a PhD in an area of original research. They can expect support and additional training from Vitae, a non-profit global leader with over 50 years of experience in enhancing researchers’ skills. In partnership with governments, funders of research, academies, professional bodies, trusts & foundations, universities, and research institutes, Vitae offers training, resources, events, consultancy, and membership.
Maintenance of Certification programs may involve continuing medical education, testing, and periodic performance reviews to ensure that licensed Pathologists remain up-to-date on their medical training and knowledge of advances in their specialty.
Why Become a Pathologist?
Practicing Pathologists have a myriad of reasons. The field incorporates a unique mix of imaging, challenging diagnostic dilemmas, and access to cutting-edge technologies and experimentation with them. It is a privilege to be the ‘doctor’s doctor,’ the preeminent consultant on whom other physicians depend to treat their patients.
Pathologists also share the privilege of being at the forefront of patient diagnosis and involved in critical decisions that affect patients’ lives. Finally, the profession allows Pathologists to lead a relatively balanced life as, with lower patient interaction, the demands on time are not as urgent as in surgery and other medical fields.
Specialties
While further subspecialties exist, Pathologists work in one of five main areas, namely chemical pathology/clinical biochemistry/metabolic medicine, hematopathology, histopathology, medical microbiology & virology, and immunopathology.
Clinical pathology combines laboratory and clinical skills, using biochemical tests to diagnose and treat patients. Metabolic medicine, a subspecialty of chemical pathology, deals with patients with malfunctioning chemical processes.
Hematology requires you to diagnose blood and bone marrow disorders and provide clinical support for the hematology diagnostic laboratory.
In histopathology, you would diagnose and study disease by medical interpretation of cells and tissue samples. Your role is integral to cancer management through the staging and grading of tumors. You would also perform autopsies to determine the cause of death.
Medical microbiologists diagnose, treat, and manage the prevention of infection in hospitals and the community. As a Pathologist in this area, your job would be to supervise the medical laboratory and serve as the link between the lab and the clinicians.
Medical virology involves the management of blood-borne infections and other emerging viruses, while specialists in immunopathology examine disorders related to the immune system.
Subspecialties
You are likely to sub-specialize towards the end of your training once you become a consultant. Subspecialties include anatomical pathology, breast pathology, cardiovascular pathology, clinical pathology, cytopathology, dermatopathology, forensic pathology, gastrointestinal pathology, genetic pathology, genitourinary pathology, gynecologic pathology, head, neck & endocrine pathology, liver pathology, molecular pathology, neuropathology or nerve & muscle pathology, ophthalmic pathology, pediatric pathology, pulmonary & thoracic pathology, renal pathology, soft tissue & bone pathology, and transplant pathology. A Pathologist can opt for a model of medical practice from among the following alternatives.
Solo Practice
A small staff and a limited patient base usually characterize solo practice without partners or employment affiliations with other practice organizations. It allows the physician to design, grow, and develop a unique style of medical care.
On the flip side, medical care (such as the need to manage hospital care and weekend coverage for patients) and the entire business enterprise rests on the sole physician. Developing agreements with insurers and documentation for regulations involves considerable work.
Solo practices are often at substantial financial risk due to the costs of doing business, possible lack of referrals, the small patient base, shifting patient allegiances because of insurance issues, income loss caused by illness or vacation, and the extent of the physician’s educational debt.
Suburban or rural areas are often better suited to solo practice because of significant medical needs and less competition from medical resources. Some local hospitals affiliate with and support solo practices (financially or with access to electronic medical records) in maintaining their patient base.
Group Practice
The group practice may comprise single-specialty or multi-specialty entities. The single-specialty practice comprises two or more physicians providing patients with a specific type of care (primary care or a particular sub-specialty practice). Multi-specialty group practices offer various types of medical specialty care under one roof.
Group practices enjoy increased financial security and better control of lifestyle. They may provide more employee benefits than are feasible in a solo practice, though often less than what may be available in organizations that employ physicians.
Group practices usually have the resources to manage the administrative tasks associated with running a practice, allowing the physician to focus more time and energy on patient care. They allow for the distribution of clinical care in the hospital at night and on weekends across a more significant number of people leading to more flexible scheduling than in a solo practice.
However, autonomy and decision-making ability decrease, increasing the risk of conflict around significant practice issues. Larger practices may also tend to become more bureaucratic and policy-driven.
Employed Physician Practice
Physicians may be employed within one of several practice models. Some hospitals may purchase and manage existing solo or group practices or may directly hire physicians to work in their inpatient facility or ambulatory clinics. Health-care corporations may own and run clinics with employed physicians.
Some physician-run groups are structured on an employment model. Group practice is structured more like a corporation that employs clinicians instead of pursuing a more traditional partnership model. Much of the administrative responsibility of running a practice is shifted to the employing entity, allowing the physicians to focus more on practicing medicine.
A baseline level of compensation is usually assured, although productivity demands and incentives may be significant. The organization usually has more resources than solo or independent group practices. There is better coverage for clinical responsibilities, more efficient control of lifestyle, more robust support services, and further education and training opportunities.
The downside is that physician autonomy may be substantially diminished relative to other practice models. Scheduling and productivity may be beyond the physician’s control; others may develop policies and procedures. There may be less clinical flexibility due to limitations of referrals and facilities based on the employing organization. Serving on committees or participating in other organizational activities may be likely.
Other Types of Medical Practice
Some physicians work as independent contractors in a solo or group practice where other physicians or physician groups share the facility and possibly clinical coverage. It may spread the costs of running a practice and may provide some flexibility in clinical scheduling. On the other hand, there is the loss of a degree of decision-making compared to a solo or small group practice.
Locum tenens (literally “place holder”) is an alternative to more permanent employment. Locum tenens positions are temporary (from a few weeks up to a year) offered by practices, hospitals, or healthcare organizations with an unfilled clinical need. The compensation rate is generally higher than what the permanent position would offer. Locum tenens allow physicians to gauge a specific type of practice or location without committing to long-term employment.
While it's a given that you will diagnose, treat and prevent a range of diseases, the time you may spend in the lab or at a computer versus the patient contact you may have will be tailored by your specialty and the role itself. If you have an enquiring nature coupled with the persistent desire to save lives, the lifelong study of disease and diagnosis of clinical conditions translate into a rewarding and intellectually stimulating vocation.
As a Pathologist, you need to understand the consequences of every call you make. Will this patient require more frequent screening? More invasive testing (with increased risks)? An additional procedure/surgery due to unclear margins? What will it cost them in medical expenses and lost earnings? It matters!
It may feel like collectors take a lot of blood when you have a blood test; don’t worry, 15 million blood cells are produced and destroyed in the human body every second!
What do Pathologists do?
A Pathologist would typically need to:
Accredited
$118,050
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