Can a PA work in Pathology

[missr6]

Forgive my ignorance if this question has been asked before, I ran a search and couldn't find anything.

 

But as the title asks, can a Physician Assistant work in pathology? Or is that reserved for a Pathologist Assistant?

[coloradopa]

Forgive my ignorance if this question has been asked before, I ran a search and couldn't find anything.

 

But as the title asks, can a Physician Assistant work in pathology? Or is that reserved for a Pathologist Assistant?

There are quite a few PAs that work in pathology. They usually work in the forensic pathology with the coroners department. There are quite a few in New York and California. You might do gross cases but other stuff is left to the lab techs or the pathologist assistants. If the pathologists are at all involved in clinical medicine then there is also a role for PAs. In our hospital toxicology and blood products (Nova-7) are under pathology and they are looking at PAs.

 

David Carpenter, PA-C

[HeadNeckPA]

This is a little late, but refer to this link for info on Pathology Assistants vs PA-C

 

http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/forums/showthread.php/13157-pathology

[FixIt]

I was wondering the same thing. I currently work in postmortem tissue recovery from organ/tissue donors for transplant surgeries and research. I am around medical examiners quite often and am curious to know if there is a possibility of working in forensics/pathology as a PA, even if it is part time.

 

EDIT: I just found this special interest group on the AAPA website--it may be worth a try to get in contact with them. :)

 

http://www.aapa.org/index.php?option=com_xmlservices&view=place&pid=72&id=1010029&Itemid=1228