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Are you doing a sub-specialty in pediatric hematology? I have seen people enter the HP program from Peds Hem-Onc, but not from general peds.

 

By the way if anyone is interested in a copy of the Robbins Pathologic Basis of Disease, I have an extra copy at home and would sell it to you for the low price of $25. Sorry for the shameful self-promotion but I noticed it was mentioned a few times on this thread. BTW I'm in Toronto.

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Can I ask why you are doing hemepath? are you just trying to find the least competitive speciality with the best lifestyle? Given that the job prospects are not nearly as good as gen path which you get training in hemepath anyways, I suggest doing hematology and then specializing in heme-path or doing gen path (the job prospects are much better).

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Can I ask why you are doing hemepath? are you just trying to find the least competitive speciality with the best lifestyle? Given that the job prospects are not nearly as good as gen path which you get training in hemepath anyways, I suggest doing hematology and then specializing in heme-path or doing gen path (the job prospects are much better).

 

Very few people do general pathology in Canada, maybe you're thinking about the US where AP/CP (their name for gen path) is the norm in order to get a job?

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While the part about more people in the US are doing GP than AP compared to Canada is true. GPs are still finding jobs easier overall in both countries. This is mostly because you have a broader training base and are able to manage small labs which are predominant in Canada. You will see a lot of APs in your training because they occupy most of Canada's teritary centres. But the job market for AP is much MUCH more saturated than GP.

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While the part about more people in the US are doing GP than AP compared to Canada is true. GPs are still finding jobs easier overall in both countries. This is mostly because you have a broader training base and are able to manage small labs which are predominant in Canada. You will see a lot of APs in your training because they occupy most of Canada's teritary centres. But the job market for AP is much MUCH more saturated than GP.

 

Canada is moving away from the GP model. Most GPs openings are in community hospitals and rural areas. However, an AP can find a job pretty much anywhere (community and tertiary centers). The market is far from saturated for AP and ranges from decent to excellent depending on the province. There's an important shortage of pathologists

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Canada is moving away from the GP model. Most GPs openings are in community hospitals and rural areas. However, an AP can find a job pretty much anywhere (community and tertiary centers). The market is far from saturated for AP and ranges from decent to excellent depending on the province. There's an important shortage of pathologists

 

I am sorry but I will politely disagree.

This story is really variable depending on who you talk to, vast majority of pathologists are APs in academic centres, and thus you'll hear them try to convince you to do AP, if you talk to GPs they will do the same conversely.

For those who say GP is not as active, Calgary just began a GP program last year and will grow to projected 5 residents in the next 3 years. If you follow CaRMS, the trend is AP spots increasingly not matching. Last year, there were AP schools with not a single match, I can't say the same about GPs.

 

Moreover, GP don't stay in community/rural hospitals . They often live in big cities and manage peripheral labs (in cities population >50k) doing QC and technician training. It is in fact difficult for APs to find work in anything other than tertiary hospitals because they are trained for 5 years to create a respectable research CV. In these cases, they are far too specialized in a particular field to be confident in general practice.

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I am sorry but I will politely disagree.

This story is really variable depending on who you talk to, vast majority of pathologists are APs in academic centres, and thus you'll hear them try to convince you to do AP, if you talk to GPs they will do the same conversely.

For those who say GP is not as active, Calgary just began a GP program last year and will grow to projected 5 residents in the next 3 years. If you follow CaRMS, the trend is AP spots increasingly not matching. Last year, there were AP schools with not a single match, I can't say the same about GPs.

 

Moreover, GP don't stay in community/rural hospitals . They often live in big cities and manage peripheral labs (in cities population >50k) doing QC and technician training. It is in fact difficult for APs to find work in anything other than tertiary hospitals because they are trained for 5 years to create a respectable research CV. In these cases, they are far too specialized in a particular field to be confident in general practice.

 

Hmm, could you expand more on the differences between the job markets? I've also heard that GP is being phased out, including from some attendings who were GP trained themselves.

 

I would much rather do a GP, but it seems like the AP residency is more future-proof.

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  • 4 weeks later...

I think you have to do what you love. If you find yourself wanting to be an overall general pathologist running ALL aspects of the lab then do GP. If you are more interested in academics and a particular area of pathology (ie. Derm) then do AP. Hemepath is great for people who already know that they like heme and want to specialize in that area from the get-go. I think you need to stop worrying about job prospects, there are jobs in ALL of these fields (perhaps not in the city of your choice), but I think we all make sacrifices to have a career that we enjoy. I'm in hemepath and don't regret my decision one bit.

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I loved hemepath when I did it in my one year of path residency but didn't care too much about a lot of the other fields - namely regular surg path. I actually have no idea how competitive HP is in Canada - here in the US it's pretty competitive, behind Dermpath and maybe some of the top GI path fellowships. I thought about pedi heme/onc but I really like the diagnosis approach you get with hemepath. I think it says something that I often go down to the path lab to look at peripheral smears and BM aspirates/core biopsies on our patients. Thanks for your responses!

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I loved hemepath when I did it in my one year of path residency but didn't care too much about a lot of the other fields - namely regular surg path. I actually have no idea how competitive HP is in Canada - here in the US it's pretty competitive, behind Dermpath and maybe some of the top GI path fellowships. I thought about pedi heme/onc but I really like the diagnosis approach you get with hemepath. I think it says something that I often go down to the path lab to look at peripheral smears and BM aspirates/core biopsies on our patients. Thanks for your responses!

 

Well let's not compare apples and oranges when you're talking about how competitive hemepath is. Heme path is either a fellowship or a 4 years residency in Canada, neither of which are very competitive, but of course it varies from year to year. With all due respect to the hemepath residents, especially the ones on these boards, I would think twice about getting into such a niche specialty that can make you extremely not marketable. I get it that you don't like enjoy surg path, but it could make your life much easier when you're hunting for a job down the road. I know a lot of hemepath who do some general sign out as well. The same logic can be applied to neuropath. Also, I don't know if you did enjoy CP or not, but most programs in Canada are AP only, so it can be a good thing if you're allergic to chem and med micro.

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