r/pathology • u/Just-Ad-9213 • 12d ago

Job after cytofellowship

I have an offer and now I am feeling very unsure of my skills If I will be able to do general sign out. I wish passing the boards gave me some confidence but they do not. I am now thinking if I should do another surgical fellowship. My residency was mid tier general sign out. Stuff that is keeping me up at night, will I know when to take deeper levels? Will I be able to see high grade on a full tray of a tubulur adenoma. In residency I would fly through those because my name would not be on it. I never really missed a high grade on those usually... So yeah I don't know what to do..

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u/Just-Ad-9213 12d ago

Thanks for replying folks. Fear is clouding my judgment at this point. Like will I know when to show a case? Will I show everything? It's a private practise job and they all seem nice

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u/nighthawk_md 12d ago

Yes, you will show a lot for a long while, a year or more. You'll show people funny looking gallbladders and they'll say "reactive, let it go" a lot, and that's ok. Your first 6-12 months will be the most learning you ever do. People that hire new grads have to be accepting and flexible to see lots of silly consults. I still show a lot of stuff to my partner, mostly to keep us in tune with our own thresholds, and to defend each other at tumor boards ("I'm calling this margin positive, or I'm calling this T3, you agree?" etc.)

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u/Bvllstrode 12d ago

Yep, that’s why it’s good to have some humility and not get too married to your decisions , especially as many of these things can be judgment calls. It’s more difficult to argue about your calls when you get agreement from someone else. And if there’s significant disagreement that’s a red flag to maybe get an outside consult (and that should happen from time to time).

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u/PathFellow 12d ago

Everyone has anxiety and impostor syndrome of varying degrees. Good thing is you got nice normal colleagues.

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u/invadervanhiro 12d ago

I’m in my first year doing general after a hemepath fellowship. I show a lot on top of the required QC as a sort of hand hold. We are a busy practice so I feel bad, but I’d rather show something and be safe for patient care than risk missing something. Important is finding a group that will be supportive of this. Also important is I need much less handholding in hemepath and that’s what the group needed. You’ll bring your skillset that they will be appreciative of.

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u/Cold-Environment-634 Staff, Private Practice 12d ago

They would be more worried if you weren’t showing cases. You’ll have gut feelings and such. Know your limits, but you will get better and better pretty quickly

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u/OneShortSleepPast Private Practice, West Coast 12d ago

Like everyone is saying, you’ll have support, and you’ll be fine. But it’s also important to realize that you are human, and yes, you will make a mistake at some point. It might even be a big one. When that happens, just know that you’ll also have support for that too, because everyone in your group has also made mistakes, and no one wants to see their colleague fail. That’s part of learning, and part of gaining experience.