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Information About Pathology
Pathology is a medical specialty that provides
the scientific foundation for medical practice. The pathologist works with
all other medical specialties, using the tools of laboratory medicine to
provide information essential to problem solving in clinical practice.
Many pathologists are generalists concerned with all facets of disease that
can be examined in the laboratory; others specialize. Anatomic pathologists
use information gathered from microscopic examination and concentrate on
abnormal morphology; clinical pathologists obtain and interpret clinical
laboratory data as needed for diagnosis and patient care. There are
pathology specialties concerned with every category of disease. Graduate
training in many of these specialties is described in this Directory under
“Training in Specialized Areas of Pathology.” Pathologists can be certified
to practice in the following subspecialties in the United States:
Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine
Chemical Pathology
Cytopathology
Dermatopathology
Forensic Pathology
Hematology
Medical Microbiology
Molecular Genetic Pathology
Neuropathology
Pediatric Pathology
Today’s employment outlook for the newly graduated pathologist is very
promising. The following 2006 career statistics were obtained from the
American Medical Association FREIDA Online (www.ama-assn.org).
The average salary for a resident was $42,493, and the average number of
weeks of vacation was 3.2. Salaries for fellowships in specialized areas of
pathology varied with the subspecialty and were at least $40,000. In 2006,
of the 644 residents or fellows who completed training in anatomic and/or
clinical pathology, 51.5 % of residents were female and 34.2% were
international medical graduates. In 2006, 79.3% of residents completing a
residency program decided to pursue additional training in specialized
fellowships, 8.4% began practicing in the United States (62.2% of these went
into group practice), 9.3% began a career in academic medicine (in
pathology), 1.5% went into the military, and the remainder left the United
States.
Data from the College of American Pathologists for the year 2006 show that
on average, pathologists worked 50.1 hours per week (compared to 55 hours
for all other specialties combined). Currently, approximately half of
pathologists work in group practice, and the remainder work in solo
practice, in a university medical school or hospital, in independent
laboratories, in a multi-specialty group, and as coroners or medical
examiners. More than half of pathology group practices have five or more
pathologists (and one third of those in group practice work in larger groups
of seven or more). Salaries for practicing pathologists vary with years of
experience, type of practice and practice site.
The best sources of additional information about the personal and
professional satisfaction of being a pathologist are pathologists in
hospitals, medical schools, and private practice. For more information about
residency and fellowship training, check the Directory of Graduate Medical
Education Programs, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical
Education’s annual source book of all accredited programs. Reference copies
are located in medical schools and medical libraries, and the information is
also available online at
www.acgme.org.
In this Directory, there is information about how physicians can be
certified in pathology in the United States, provided by the American Board
of Pathology. All the information in this Directory is available online, in
searchable format by region, state, and institution, at
www.pathologytraining.org.
Useful sources of information on the web include:
Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education:
www.acgme.org
American Association of Medical Colleges:
www.aamc.org
American Board of Pathology:
www.abpath.org
American Medical Association:
www.ama-assn.org
American Society for Clinical Pathology:
www.ascp.org
American Society for Investigative Pathology:
www.asip.org
Association of Pathology Chairs:
www.apcprods.org
College of American Pathologists:
www.cap.org
Intersociety Council for Pathology Information:
www.pathologytraining.org
United States and Canadian Academy of Pathology:
www.uscap.org
06/30/2008 |
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