'Junk in, junk out" applies very well to pathology. The more information you provide on a pathology requistion, the better results you will get. And it will save you from answering pages or e-mail from a pathologist wanting to know why you biopsied this 'lesion'.
END OF PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT. YOU MAY NOW COMMENCE IGNORING THE PATHOLOGIST.
I get this from the radiologists, too -- "what's the clinical setting for this X ray?" etc...
...why can't YOU tell ME?
I'm just bitter, I guess. I'm studying for a test in which I'll be thrown X-rays, EKGs, or cytology with little more description than "35 year old woman with dyspnea."
If they expect third year med students to do it, why does it get easier for specialists and attendings?
Posted by: Nick | June 24, 2004 at 07:41 AM
this is interesting b/c I once worked as a "Clinical Librarian" in a hospital library...and the docs, nurses would come to us with medical research questions with just a one or 2 word topics and we would have to ask them a bunch of questions to get some context around the query for pete's sake so that we could make sure that we were searching the literature to find out exactly what they wanted--if the knew what they wanted.
Posted by: Sandra | June 24, 2004 at 10:17 AM
Sandra, wow. I wonder why we physicians are so bad at communicating as a profession? Or rather, why some of us are so bad while others are not?
Anyway, I probably would have been one of those saps who sent you a one or two worded query. What? Can't you read my mind?
Posted by: MD | June 24, 2004 at 05:55 PM
Oh, and Nick good luck on the exam!
Posted by: MD | June 24, 2004 at 05:56 PM