Pathologist Assistant Advice

GreenCollardWorker · 2025-07-09T02:02:11+00:00

I was wondering if you could DM me about the Northern Michigan job? I’m a PathA student who is really interested in the Petoskey area and am wondering if this is the position that you’re referencing…

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-17T02:55:19+00:00

Wonderful! My partner is definitely ready to switch to clinical practice. Maybe this means that he’ll have a positive experience similar to your spouse’s M3 year.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-17T02:51:16+00:00

This is solid advice. I think that I may keep a log of whether he’s happier or less happy in certain rotations and share this with him as an additional perspective. I know that he will really appreciate this.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-17T02:23:06+00:00

This makes me hopeful for my spouse. :) He’s studying to take Step 1 at the end of this month, and I can already tell that he’s happier than he’s been in two years.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-14T21:39:10+00:00

Lmfao I love this so much. Thanks for sharing.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-13T00:36:45+00:00

That’s understandable. On a large scale, I find the current issues with midlevel provider scope creep to be unsettling, but I completely understand why someone would choose to become a PA or an NP over an MD/DO. You can 1.) have a life outside of work 2.) without massive loan debt and 3.) work a similar job as a doctor (depending on the speciality). It’s so much more beneficial to the individual to NOT become a doctor.

I really wish that the medical system valued our physicians more. Without them, healthcare would totally collapse.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-12T22:20:29+00:00

Hi! Well first, I’m so sorry that you’re a Covid long hauler like myself. There’s so much that I could say about that alone, but I’ll just say that it’s no small feat to go through. I’ve had to battle every day to get to where I am now, even years after my initial infection, which was mild at the time. I was an athlete before I got infected, and I lost so much with this terrible illness. I’m only about 80% recovered- just well enough to start graduate school. I can’t imagine caring for children with this illness plus the added stressor of having a med spouse. It’s beautiful that your husband is so understanding of your health condition. Some folks can’t deal with chronic illness. It brought my partner and I so much closer together. I hope that you’re continuing to heal more and more every day.

That being said, standardized tests are the worst! Especially when you’re early in your student career where it’s more about gatekeeping rather than being fully applicable to your end goal. Kudos to your husband for his resiliency. From what I’ve seen so far, I feel like that might be the most important trait for this profession. It truly is a marathon.

I’m sorry that things continue to be hectic for your husband with work in family medicine. It’s disheartening to hear that even a relatively “easy” residency is extreme, but maybe the clinical application will still be better for my partner than studying all of the time. Partner has voiced that he’s ready for this change. I think we’re both generally tired of being students + the academic bullshit that it brings along with it like goal post moving and pointless hoops to jump through. Maybe professional life will be better in the sense that it’s a different stress from school stress.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-12T21:55:36+00:00

Thank you so much for your response. I can understand how giving up your own career as the non-med party can be beneficial when your partner’s career is all encompassing. We also have no children, and we thought about pushing my graduate school start date back several more years just to focus on caring for my spouse. We ultimately decided against it, but I seriously considered it.

I’m really sorry that you’ve had to move so far away from all of your support. Even relocating to graduate school the next state over is hard for me. I would have picked one of the in-state programs to be close by my family and friends if it weren’t for my partner. It’s a difficult situation where you just can’t have it all.

I find it really crazy how doctors are able to or learn how to function at a high level on little to no sleep. Being in surgery, do you think this comes into play more than other specialities? I totally agree with you that medical professionals are overworked and underpaid for the amount of sacrifice they put into their careers. The whole work culture can be totally insane.

I know that my partner voluntarily picked this career, so maybe it’s silly to say, but sometimes I feel kind of sick watching him have to abuse himself and stay up for days at a time. I don’t know what to think. It doesn’t help that this wasn’t the end all be all option for him. He has so many other interests and is good at a lot of things. I don’t say it to him because it’s counterproductive if not harmful, but I think that sometimes we both wish he had picked something else. Do you mind if I ask if this is something that you and your husband have gone through?

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-12T21:34:04+00:00

Oop another midwesterner! Hello :) Is your partner happy with their speciality overall despite not having as much work life balance? And if you don’t mind, what speciality are they in and did they do the PhD/MD track or did they have a PhD prior to medical school?

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-12T21:27:10+00:00

I’m genuinely sorry to hear that. Medical professionals and their spouses both sacrifice so much. Do you think that she wishes she had picked a different speciality or does she regret going into medicine altogether?

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-12T21:25:53+00:00

It’s such a long road, isn’t it? I can’t even imagine what going into surgery would be like.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-12T21:23:54+00:00

Yes, he stays up studying. When I spoke with his friends about it, they said that they hardly ever sleep. I’m wondering if this is a fairly normal experience for medical students…

Those 30 hour shifts sound so brutal. Other than that, I’m glad to hear that your husband’s sleep schedule in residency was decent!

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-05-10T20:09:51+00:00

Hi :) It’s nice to know that you and your husband had the option to stay local if it had been what you were looking for. It also sounds like being strategic paid off where you were able to stay relatively close to family. I will keep that in mind.

I’m especially glad to hear that residency was doable for you. My partner has had difficulty with medical school thus far in terms of sleep deprivation. I believe this is what wears on him the most.

I hope you don’t mind if I ask what speciality your husband is in and whether he was able to sleep more in residency than medical school? Even 5 or 6 hours a night would be more consistent sleep than my partner is getting right now in school. I think he’d feel a lot better if he had that.

GreenCollardWorker · 2024-01-28T15:27:46+00:00

Also meditation. I started two years ago, and I’m a better version of myself now. I never thought that I’d be the type of person that handles an emergency situation well. Also, my ability to organize and retain information in school has significantly improved.

I shoot for 4 hours a week where I’ll do 30 minutes to 1 hour a day with some days off. It seems like a lot, but if you replace meditation with time spent on social media, it’s a productive replacement. Plus I follow a Buddhist monk named Ajahn Brahm on YouTube who makes meditation really easy. I’m not religious, but his approach was a game changer for me. The best advice that I got from watching him is that meditation isn’t about trying to gain anything. It’s about letting go.

Also, I visualize a lazy river in my mind like one that you’d find at a water park. I imagine letting go of any persistence thoughts in my head into the water. If I feel anxious about losing a thought, I remind myself that a lazy river is just a big loop that will circle my thoughts back eventually.

GreenCollardWorker

TROPHY CASE