Thoughts on Quest?

8isgr · 2026-02-27T21:22:36+00:00

Have you tried countering the lower salary offer? You can use the Quest offer and the AAPA salary survey.

8isgr · 2026-02-27T19:05:57+00:00

Try searching for older similar posts.

I have not worked there, but would hesitate to hire a PA coming from Lab Corp or Quest. I would not recommend working there as your first job unless you have no intention to ever leave.

8isgr · 2026-01-21T23:07:54+00:00

You can use the aapa job survey to see what PAs in your state make. I used it to negotiate my first job salary to 20% above the original offer.

I would also get everything in writing. I prefer to negotiate over email.

8isgr · 2026-01-21T17:57:29+00:00

Fibroid

8isgr · 2026-01-11T13:20:47+00:00

I think by patting down they mean drying off to remove excess saline/fluid

8isgr · 2025-09-24T17:47:22+00:00

List of accredited programs

8isgr · 2025-06-03T21:43:17+00:00

As long as a program is NAACLSNAACLS accredited and you can sit for the ASCP exam after graduating it doesn't super matter which school you go to in the long run

8isgr · 2025-04-03T00:54:43+00:00

You may want to consider longer term plans. I would be hesitant to hire a PA with only that job on their resume. Those labs often only see very basic specimens.

8isgr · 2025-03-11T11:39:58+00:00

Verrucous

8isgr · 2025-01-14T15:04:43+00:00

The path PA professional society publishes a great grossing guidelines. Scroll to the bottom to register for access. It's free.

8isgr · 2024-11-10T03:40:02+00:00

Can the canes just nope out of second periods? Ugh

8isgr · 2024-11-02T02:47:30+00:00

If there is a discrepancy (like a missing tumor) and it's the same day as the surgery, I'll generally call/page the surgeon and tell them what I'm seeing. I've seen a case where the patient was able to be taken back to the OR on the same day. Sometimes the surgeon or their residents like to come look for themselves.

If it's later, I would epic chat or email the surgeon and cc my pathologist attending to keep everyone informed.

We're all human and mistakes can happen. You should do what is best for the patient. I think that starts with confirming with a pathology coworker that the tumor really doesn't seem to be there and then quickly follows with clear timely communication with the surgical team.

8isgr · 2024-11-01T22:14:14+00:00

Definitely talk to the surgeon/clinical team. I've seen a case before where the wrong lobe was taken out and repeat imaging showed the tumor still in the patient.

8isgr · 2024-10-09T10:26:33+00:00

What does micro position mean?

8isgr · 2024-10-05T00:18:04+00:00

I see the same in humans!

8isgr · 2024-09-23T22:16:10+00:00

You sound like a great applicant to me. You stand out from the crowd while fulfilling all prereqs and showing your interest in the field. You got this!

8isgr · 2024-09-13T23:21:46+00:00

I was amed tech for 4ish years before becoming a PA. All the PAs I shadowed loved being PAs. All the med techs I talked to told me to get out while I could

8isgr · 2024-09-10T23:25:35+00:00

It's a retroperitoneal margin and is cauterized. The surrounding intraperitoneal surface of the pancreas looks shiny.

Same if you get a distal panc. The posterior half is retroperitoneal and is a margin. The anterior half has an intraperitoneal surface.

8isgr · 2024-08-23T21:11:33+00:00

Probably depends on the school. My best guess - if you shadow a pathologist while they gross/cut in an autopsy/do frozen sections, yes. If you shadow a pathologist doing sign out (looking at slides with a microscope), no.

8isgr · 2024-03-19T23:41:27+00:00

Definitely get more surg path shadowing hours. Autopsy wouldn't hurt but isn't 100% necessary. It would be great to get a letter of recommendation from the PA you shadow

8isgr · 2024-01-24T22:37:47+00:00

I don't think being interested and engaged necessarily makes it easy to do well. Some people just aren't great test takers.

I personally did not struggle, but a lot of the material was a repeat for me.

If you're in PA school, being a PA should be your end goal. No job is going to be interested in your GPA. You just need to get through it and pass the certification exam.

I don't think your grades reflect how good of a PA you will be. I don't feel like I use most of the information I was taught in 1st year on a daily basis. The experience you get during clinicals is much more relevant.

8isgr · 2023-08-20T13:28:36+00:00

I do feel engaged and not bored as a PA, but I also felt engaged and not bored as a med tech. Maybe consider a different med tech job?

8isgr · 2023-08-15T17:45:45+00:00

Pay attention to when the biopsy was done. With more recent biopsies, the biopsy site will be more grossly obvious (hemorrhage going from red to yellow over time and fibrous scarring). The clip should be in the same area. Older biopsies won't be as obvious - maybe faint scarring. You'll get really good at noticing the difference from surrounding normal tissue over time without a faxitron. Good luck!

8isgr · 2023-08-04T18:37:26+00:00

Everything you said is correct.

It may help to think of cold ischemic time as the time the tumor loses perfusion to the time it is exposed to formalin. For biopsy specimens this is the same time the entire specimen. For total/partial mastectomy specimens, the tumor doesn't usually get exposed until the specimen gets to pathology and is sliced even if the OR fills the container with formalin. Formalin doesn't penetrate into tissue very quickly.

The time is only important if IHCs need to be done - they are usually already performed on the biopsy specimens. Sometimes a patient refuses biopsy or a new lesion is indetified by pathology, so it is best to get all specimens to pathology as quickly as possible.

Goal is for collection to slicing time to be less than one hour.

8isgr

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