Psychiatry vs Pathology

[airpods]

Hi everybody,

I know that these are disparate specialities, but I am considering pathology and psychiatry. I think I would enjoy the work environment of pathology: a calm environment with intellectually stimulating work. However, I know that pathology does not have as much flexibility as psychiatry, especially concerning private work. Additionally, it seems that psychiatry can have higher pay than pathology these days. I also find the patient interactions in psychiatry interesting. If you were in my shoes, which specialty would you pick?

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[KeratinPearls]

Hi everybody,

I know that these are disparate specialities, but I am considering pathology and psychiatry. I think I would enjoy the work environment of pathology: a calm environment with intellectually stimulating work. However, I know that pathology does not have as much flexibility as psychiatry, especially concerning private work. Additionally, it seems that psychiatry can have higher pay than pathology these days. I also find the patient interactions in psychiatry interesting. If you were in my shoes, which specialty would you pick?

Lol not every pathology job is a calm environment. Compared to Psych, Path is calmer I guess depending on who you work with. Some pathologists might be worse or comparable to some psych patients LOL.

Some path jobs are fast paced, high volume work, so not necessarily calm. You can get a job at the VA and just chill most of the day however.

Have you done rotations? If not I recommend doing a few to really get an idea of the day to day life of each field. That’s really the only way you can decide for yourself which field is better for you. Like you said, path and psych are two totally different fields, which have pros and cons.

I don’t like to deal with patients, so Path was a better option for me. Do you feel like you need patient interaction in general? If so, then do psych. Shouldn’t be hard to decide between the two really.

 

[Spikebd]

Hi everybody,

I know that these are disparate specialities, but I am considering pathology and psychiatry. I think I would enjoy the work environment of pathology: a calm environment with intellectually stimulating work. However, I know that pathology does not have as much flexibility as psychiatry, especially concerning private work. Additionally, it seems that psychiatry can have higher pay than pathology these days. I also find the patient interactions in psychiatry interesting. If you were in my shoes, which specialty would you pick?

Science of psych is fascinating but I decided I couldn’t run a pill dispensary.

Pathologists aren’t Pharma or surgical implant device shills and for that I am forever thankful, although keytruda/molecular path is trying their best to take us down that path by looking for any VAF with “actionable” aka $$$ mutations.

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

My niece is a psych who works from home making 450 a year. Doesn't get more chill than that. Path can be very stressful cause you are fighting for scraps against every other path in the country, while you wait for technology to replace you

 

[HeyDalaron]

My niece is a psych who works from home making 450 a year. Doesn't get more chill than that. Path can be very stressful cause you are fighting for scraps against every other path in the country, while you wait for technology to replace you

Overemployment in psychiatry is the real hidden gem in medicine. Who could have predicted that?

 

[KeratinPearls]

My niece is a psych who works from home making 450 a year. Doesn't get more chill than that. Path can be very stressful cause you are fighting for scraps against every other path in the country, while you wait for technology to replace you

Yes that’s true. I know a 75 year old pathologist (possibly retired and probably a multimillionaire I’m guessing) doing contractor/locums work still. I’m like cmon man let the young pathologists do the work. These guys don’t retire. I don’t know if he’s just bored or if he just needs to make extra money.

Another pathologist I met said he’s seen some 80 year old pathologists who can’t even walk who are still working.

 

[Spikebd]

Yes that’s true. I know a 75 year old pathologist (possibly retired and probably a multimillionaire I’m guessing) doing contractor work still. I’m like cmon man let the young pathologists do the work. These guys don’t retire. I don’t know if he’s just bored or if he just needs to make extra money.

Another pathologist I met said he’s seen some 80 year old pathologists who can’t even walk who are still working.

I hope I do the right thing and give it up when it’s time for me to.

 

[caffeinegirl]

I know of one person who transferred from psych to path and is happy with the choice. If I were in the OPs shoes and found "patient interactions in psychiatry interesting" (quote from OP), then I would definitely do psych. There is more flexibility for types of practice setting, schedule, etc and variable sources of income (cash, insurance, etc). Pathology is a very niche and specialized field which has less options than psych. And, although intellectually challenging, it does not have the same level of patient interaction as clinical medicine. I would recommend thinking long and hard about two things: 1) why did you go into the medicine in the first place (what inspired you, interested you, etc) and 2) what do you see yourself doing on a daily basis 10+years from now AND be happy doing it - this is about the daily grind and your bread-and-butter cases.

 

[Med Director New England]

My niece is a psych who works from home making 450 a year. Doesn't get more chill than that. Path can be very stressful cause you are fighting for scraps against every other path in the country, while you wait for technology to replace you

My neighbor is psychiatry - I told this story here before but a few years ago he stopped accepting insurance altogether and bills / hr like a lawyer, patient pays out of pocket.

Based on lifestyle income has to be somewhere in the 500K range. Works hard but has 100% control.

 

[luckybuck]

My niece is a psych who works from home making 450 a year. Doesn't get more chill than that. Path can be very stressful cause you are fighting for scraps against every other path in the country, while you wait for technology to replace you

So she does telehealth?

 

[forchinet121]

Overemployment in psychiatry is the real hidden gem in medicine. Who could have predicted that?

What does this mean?

 

[Zarniwoop]

Psych looks great now, but will the psych boon last, or is it a bubble specialty like anesthesia and rad onc?

 

[forchinet121]

Psych looks great now, but will the psych boon last, or is it a bubble specialty like anesthesia and rad onc?

It’s not that great it’s around 300k while anesthesia is currently 600k, rad onc got screwed tho

 

[caffeinegirl]

Psych looks great now, but will the psych boon last, or is it a bubble specialty like anesthesia and rad onc?

There are lots of moving pieces when it comes to mental health care - and lots of disrupting technology as well. You can now get antidepressants by app (forhers.com) and there are tons of mental health apps out there - including one that got in trouble for using AI without disclosing it! AI Chat used by mental health tech company in experiment on real users

 

[luckybuck]

Psych looks great now, but will the psych boon last, or is it a bubble specialty like anesthesia and rad onc?

I don't think anesthesia is a bubble specialty. Job market has historically been cyclical but its currently stronger than its been in 20 years. CRNAs have been around for a long time yet anesthesia still does very well