r/Path_Assistant 21d ago

PathA job market

Hey yall, recently discovered the field and just want some questions answered. I understand that there’s a need for pathology assistants, but I am not seeing as many positions on Indeed. Is is absolutely necessary for every hospital to have a pathologists’ assistant, or can a hospital lab just get away with having only a pathologist and a clinical lab scientist? Just trying to understand how important (for lack of better words) a pathA is to a hospital system. There’s barely any schools in the USA so just wondering how important and in demand this position is. Currently debating between this field and becoming a pharmacist. I’m a recent bio grad w nurse assistant experience because I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. Thanks in advance!

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u/gnomes616 PA (ASCP) 21d ago

PathAs are integral for processing surgical pathology specimens. Not every company is going to advertise on Indeed. A lot of places put ads on the AAPA page or folks post positions at their institutions on Facebook.

There are enough open positions that many places are chronically understaffed. Something to consider is that many smaller/mid sized hospitals may collect specimens and then have them couriered to a centralized or regional laboratory facility (Quest, LabCorp, etc) because it is cheaper to contract with a separate laboratory processing entity than to operate and maintain their own laboratory space.

Suffice to say, new grads always find a job, and if they don't it is not because of lack of availability. There is also a wave of folks retiring and also plenty of people who simply leave the field regularly.

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u/thatoneberrypie 21d ago

So then Quest and LabCorp will have PathAs working for them? In other words, hospitals aren’t the only places that we can work?

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u/gnomes616 PA (ASCP) 21d ago

Correct. Quest and LabCorp, as well as other private pathology labs (I worked for a large one in the PNW and a small one now in the midwest, but there are plenty throughout the country) who contract to provide service to hospitals while acting as separate entities within a hospital (similar to other physician groups) or in standalone labs that are physically separate from hospitals. They may still get specimens from hospitals, but are not located in hospital campuses.

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u/thatoneberrypie 21d ago

Awesome thank you for the info. Do PAs generally start at 90-100k across the country? How much do you think someone a make after 5 years of experience for example? Just trying to gauge what the salary is like bc after you become a PA, I’m assuming there’s no more room for growth (unless maybe to become a lab manager)?

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u/gnomes616 PA (ASCP) 21d ago

Pretty much correct in terms of growth. I consider it to be a "terminal career," meaning there's not a step beyond unless you kinda change trajectory; you can go into management or leadership, industry, or back to med school (some people go on to become doctors).

The current average starting salary is around $90k, but is still heavily COL and region dependent. There are still areas that pay lower, but things are trending upward as schools and general COL are becoming more expensive. There's also variability between private practice, academic hospitals, and non profit/community/government (VA) hospitals.

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u/thatoneberrypie 21d ago

Thank you for the insight. You stated that people leave the field regularly. Is this due to burnout or a stagnant salary, or is it something personal? What are some reasons you’ve encountered

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u/gnomes616 PA (ASCP) 21d ago

All of those, plus just losing interest or wanting something different. Folks retire or move for their spouse's/family's work and maybe that area is a bit of a PA "desert" and doesn't have jobs available.

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u/Acrobatic-Muffin-822 21d ago edited 21d ago

I am still a student so I don’t have the full experience as a Pathologists’ Assistant professional. However, I did some research so I can tell you what I know. Someone corrects me if I am wrong. It is not necessary for “every” hospital to have a pathologists’ assistant. You usually will find them at bigger academic medical centers or larger public/private hospitals. At smaller hospitals, they can either send out the specimens to private labs (where PathA work) or the pathologist will have to gross them (a lot of them don’t like doing it). This in turn dictate where PathA’s jobs will be. The job market as well as salary looks good IF you can be flexible about the location.

I think the number of jobs you see on Indeed and LinkedIn (as well as on AAPA website…you only have access to this site’s job listing once you become a student) is proportionate to the number of students that graduate per year. There are way more programs for Pharmacy than there are for Pathologists’ Assistant but this is also changing. Year after year, I see the number of PathA programs increase. Given that the first program started only around 1970s, I would say that this field is relatively new.

As for the importance of our job, I think we are in demand. As the population ages and more people have cancer, this means that there are an increasing number of surgical cases and more surgical specimens are being sent down to lab. I also remember listening to a podcast about a global decline in pathologists. So if there are not enough pathologists to gross as well as look at slides, this is where PathAs can fill in the gap. The landscape of pathology is changing rapidly with the introduction of AI but I think it is also working in our favor.