Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6H 3N1.
Hum Pathol. 2010 Apr;41(4):566-73. doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2009.09.012. Epub 2009 Dec 11.
Pathology has been frequently identified in the literature as an unpopular choice for medical students. For many years, there have been predictions that this unpopularity would lead to inadequate pathologist numbers, which would in turn contribute to poor quality patient care. In Canada, the predicted crisis has become a reality: after a high-profile failure of laboratory quality, a public inquiry reported that poor pathology recruitment was partially responsible and recommended that medical schools take steps to make pathology more attractive to medical students. There are several published studies into pathology recruitment, but none has asked nonpathology residents why they did not choose pathology. This study uses qualitative techniques to investigate why pathology residents chose to specialize in pathology and why clinical residents rejected a pathology career. Pathology residents across Canada were surveyed, as were clinical (nonpathology) residents in every residency training program at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Pathology residents overwhelmingly cited various attractive features of pathology practice, including its academic nature, the opportunity to explore basic pathogenesis, and its interesting and varied daily work. Most clinical residents rejected pathology because they preferred direct patient contact; however, a sizable minority blamed insufficient or inadequate medical school experiences in pathology. Clinical residents also cited several misconceptions and stereotypes about pathology, including misunderstandings about the role of pathologists and the nature of pathology practice. The reasons why clinical residents rejected pathology careers may provide guidance in improving pathology recruitment of medical students.
病理学在文献中经常被认为是医学生不受欢迎的选择。多年来，一直有人预测这种不受欢迎的程度将导致病理学家人数不足，进而导致患者护理质量下降。在加拿大，预测的危机已经成为现实：在一次备受瞩目的实验室质量失败之后，一项公开调查报告称，病理学招聘不足是部分原因，并建议医学院采取措施使病理学对医学生更具吸引力。已经有一些关于病理学招聘的已发表研究，但没有一项研究询问非病理学住院医师为什么不选择病理学。本研究使用定性技术调查为什么病理学住院医师选择专攻病理学，以及为什么临床住院医师拒绝从事病理学职业。对加拿大各地的病理学住院医师进行了调查，对加拿大温哥华不列颠哥伦比亚大学的每个住院医师培训计划中的临床（非病理学）住院医师也进行了调查。病理学住院医师压倒性地列举了病理学实践的各种吸引人的特点，包括其学术性质、探索基础发病机制的机会以及其有趣和多样的日常工作。大多数临床住院医师拒绝从事病理学工作，因为他们更喜欢直接与患者接触；然而，相当一部分人将其归咎于在病理学方面的医学学校经验不足或不足。临床住院医师还列举了一些关于病理学的误解和刻板印象，包括对病理学家角色和病理学实践性质的误解。临床住院医师拒绝从事病理学职业的原因可能为改善医学生的病理学招聘提供指导。
