Pathology job market in Canada

[GrouchoMarx]

How is it?

[ubcredfox]

OMG it is sooo bad. People r like waiting in bread lines and begging outside the Timmies with empty coffee mugs. A breast specialty pathologist I know begs regularly outside the hospital in Toronto just to get by. If you throw him partially smoked cigarette buts then he's really happy.

 

I like know no pathologist who has a job. They all wash cars and flip burgers for the big bucks. Horrible. Just horrible.

 

No one should apply to pathology.

[GrouchoMarx]

lol.

 

 

Honestly what is the job market like? I want to make an informed decision.

[bugette]

I think he is trying to convey that the job situation is pretty bad. Dismal is what I've heard.

 

Speak directly with residents and staff. They can give you firsthand information probably about how bad things are.

[GrouchoMarx]

I think he is trying to convey that the job situation is pretty bad. Dismal is what I've heard.

 

Speak directly with residents and staff. They can give you firsthand information probably about how bad things are.

 

I think he is being sarcastic. Thank you for the info anyway:)

[pathman]

ubcredfox is indeed being sarcastic. The job market is just fine and only going to get better in the coming decade or so as a significant proportion of the current workforce retires.

[blinknoodle]

The job market for pathologists in Ontario is not that great, especially in academic centres. A few years ago it was, but those jobs have been filled. Plus the hospitals do not necessarily have the budget to hire full-cost pathologists.

 

I would expect a subspecialty to be very common place to get a job now, but I think the job situation in Ontario, at least, will improve within the next 5 years.

[monkey799]

Job situation is not good in Canada when I did electives in path as a med student, but the future is hard to predict in 5-10 yrs. One big factor is - where are you looking to practice?

 

In pathology you generally need to go to at least a medium sized city like Calgary or Edmonton, or bigger, with medical schools, to have enough openings for grads. Unfortunately, large cities like Vancouver & Toronto is pretty saturated cuz everyone wants to go there.

 

US is not a good option cuz in the US, people do AP + CP (anatomical & clinical) combined in their residency, whereas in Canada, most grads only do AP. Even then most go on to fellowship with AP subspecialization like GI or derm. And even with fellowship, getting a job is not easy.

 

All these factors combined, it makes pathology one of the easiest specialty to match in CaRMS. I was told by selection committee that being a Canadian grad, you are almost guaranteed to match where you want.

 

That being said, pathology has one of the best lifestyle in training and in practice. Call is virtually non-existent, especially getting called overnight. Hours are fantastic. Pay is very good for the hours worked (roughly 300k on average). The field is very interesting with great future potential given the rapid advancement of technology.