As a pathology resident that is just barely into the start of my second year, I’m often amazed at how my perspectives about the profession, the training, and my role within this system have changed. My program has four hospitals through which we rotate: an urban academic center, a VA hospital, and two community hospitals. During PGY-1, the six of us residents remained entirely at the academic center with one month of hematopathology at the VA. For the first three months, we were on an “intro to surgical pathology” rotation together before we were separated to various clinical or anatomic pathology rotations.
No program is perfect, but one of the assets of the surgical pathology department at our main academic center was the active hands-on effort our pathology assistants and fellows made to help us learn to gross and manage our time. Our attending physicians, if asked, also would come to the gross room to explain how and why we should gross their specimens in a specific manner. They were also very open to feedback and incorporated our comments into refining the two week orientation “boot camp” that is given every year to new PGY-1’s. Without being overbearing, they allowed us to progress at our own pace and constantly nudged us to improve in areas where we were weak, because as a PGY-2’s at the VA and community hospitals, we would be on our own. I would hear them say this over and over but didn’t really internalize the true impact of their words until the end of my first year.
During PGY-1, I was able to attend multiple conferences where I met other residents who told me about how surgical pathology was taught at their institutions. Of course, I had appreciated and recognized the extra time our PAs, fellows, and attendings had put into our learning then but now a year later, I truly understand how lucky I was to have them because not all residents were as fortunate. The interactions that staff has with residents can have a lasting impression on what type of pathologists we become, so I’d like to start my inaugural blog with a simple “thank you.”
-Betty Chung
Lablogatory 
You are very lucky to have someone to teach you the secrets of the trade and that’s true, a simple thank you would do. I am also a pathology resident here in the Philippines and we do also have also different “style”in training programs in different institutions, both in anatomic and clinical pathology. I can say it more a self directed learning since its already post grad.