hey all! so…about 2/3 yrs ago I signed up for this site b/c I was going to enroll in med school and long story short, i convinced myself not to do it. so here i am again b/c this doctor thing wont stop nagging @ me, and danggit I’m ready. Now, here’s where I’m a little lost:
My whole goal in life is to become a medical examiner. I spent 2 summers in school working @ a coroner’s office, and I know what the job entails, and I’m convinced thats what I want. Are there any ppl here that have gone the Forensic Pathology route? How did you come about deciding FP was what you wanted? If you knew you wanted to be an FP before even going to med school, how did you deal with the other parts of med school, like clinical rotations, or having to deal with patients, etc?
What is the process one goes through to become an FP? I’ve read that you have to do med school, then a residency, then a fellowship all of which can add up to 10years. Is that what you find yourself doing? What are you doing during your residency? Regular doctor stuff, or things geared toward pathology? What are you doing during your fellowship? Additionally, how did you find your fellowship?
Sorry, I have a lot of questions, but I’m REALLY tired of dodging this med school thing lol Thanks guys!!!
- samdaria Said:
What is the process one goes through to become an FP? I've read that you have to do med school, then a residency, then a fellowship all of which can add up to 10years. Is that what you find yourself doing? What are you doing during your residency? Regular doctor stuff, or things geared toward pathology? What are you doing during your fellowship? Additionally, how did you find your fellowship?
Yes, if you want to be a MD or DO medical examiner, you will have to do med school, residency, and likely a fellowship. Most pathology residencies are currently 4 year combined anatomic/clinical pathology residencies, although I see some offer 3 years in one or the other. I'm not sure how the 3 year option is looked upon, though. A friend of mine is doing a pathology residency, and I remember her saying that since pathology had cut most of its residencies down to 4 years, you almost had to do a fellowship in order to get a job. Fellowships are usually 1-2 years in length.
As a med student, your first 3 years will be the pretty much the same as everyone elses, no matter what specialty you think you want to do. If you choose to do research, obviously, you can do pathology focused research. You may have some elective time 3rd year, but 3rd year is usually devoted to the core clerkships. Fourth year is when most students do their elective rotations.
As for what you do in residency, I suggest you visit various residency program websites. For example, you can visit the Cleveland Clinic's Pathology residency website at http://my.clevelandclinic.org/pathology/education/p athology_residency_progra m.aspx.
You can find information about other pathology residency programs by going to the AMA's FREIDA website at https://freida.ama-assn.org/Freida/user/viewProgr amSearch.do. The program information usually includes links to the programs' websites, although some are out of date.
You can also search for fellowships the same way. It appears that there are currently 37 forensic pathology fellowships. You can view Indiana's forensic pathology fellowship webpage at http://www.pathology.iupui.edu/body.cfm?id=6777
Do a lot of research - what exactly is the job description for a forensic pathologist? Are there related jobs that you might enjoy as much that don't require a medical degree. As an example - there is a shortage currently of forensic pathologists. Forensic pathology doesn't pay nearly as well as other areas of pathology (because they are usually city/county/state employees), so many pathology residents are going into private practice in things such as surgical pathology or dermatopathology.
There is a growing role in pathology for pathology assistants (see http://www.pathologistsassistants.org/Default.aspx?s=whatisaPA ). It appears that most PA programs are 2 year master's programs. If you're having a hard time with the idea of spending 10 years to become a forensic pathologist, maybe a pathology assistant program is something that might interest you. If you want to be the one in charge and the one who makes the actual diagnoses, this may not be the route for you. However, if what you really want to do is the dissection, etc, than PA might be acceptable.
Good luck.