u/Cookiecrumbles413

I am an ST4 Histopathology trainee. For context the training programme is usually 5.5 years. At the end of my ST1 year I was referred to a wellbeing service due to being slow to get through cases. I was assessed for and subsequently diagnosed with dyslexia with problems with working memory. There's a Part 1 exam after the first 18 months of training that I took 3 attempts to pass. This consumed most of my ST2 and ST3 years.

I became ST4 in February and had been preparing for my autopsy exam which also consumed a lot of time. However, this has knocked into my clinical work and I've gotten feedback from multiple teams I've rotated through that I'm not getting through work quick enough, not handling complexity well, and forgetting instructions given to me while dissecting. All of this really knocking my confidence and self esteem while adding stress. I'm staying many extra hours and coming in on off days just to keep up.

Had a meeting with my educational supervisor and the training programme director which was very serious. They both recognised how hard I'm working, that I'm pleasant to work with, and very resilient in seeking out and working on the feedback even when it's negative. (( From my point of view dyslexia is still a very new concept for me so seeking out feedback good or bad is really helpful for me to know where weak points and blind spots are)). However, they raised the valid point that despite how hard I'm working that I might need to consider something other than pathology due to how much stress it was putting me under. In the end we decided to extend my training my 6 months and drop autopsy training for the time being.

I am really worried as I love pathology and having been away from clinical medicine for so long am not sure how I would cope going back to it.

Do you have any advice for how you handled bigger workloads, time pressures, and handling complex information?

Thanks in advance!

Hi cross posting to r/dyslexia and r/medicine to try get as many ideas as possible.

I am an ST4 Histopathology trainee (medical specialty where we look at various things eg moles, organs removed for cancer or other conditions, etc. under the microscope to make a diagnosis). For context the training programme is usually 5.5 years. At the end of my ST1 year I was referred to a wellbeing service due to being slow to get through cases. I was assessed for and subsequently diagnosed with dyslexia with problems with working memory. There's a Part 1 exam after the first 18 months of training that I took 3 attempts to pass. This consumed most of my ST2 and ST3 years. 

I became ST4 in February and had been preparing for my autopsy exam which also consumed a lot of time. However, this has knocked into my clinical work and I've gotten feedback from multiple teams I've rotated through that I'm not getting through work quick enough, not handling complexity well, and forgetting instructions given to me while dissecting. All of this really knocking my confidence and self esteem while adding stress. I'm staying many extra hours and coming in on off days just to keep up.

Had a meeting with my educational supervisor and the training programme director which was very serious. They both recognised how hard I'm working, that I'm pleasant to work with, and very resilient in seeking out and working on the feedback even when it's not negative. However, they raised the valid point that despite how hard I'm working that I might need to consider something other than pathology due to how much stress it was putting me under. In the end we decided to extend my training my 6 months and drop autopsy training for the time being.

I am really worried as I love pathology and having been away from clinical medicine for so long am not sure how I would cope going back to it.

Do you have any advice for how you handled bigger workloads, time pressures, and handling complex information? 

Thanks in advance!

Hi cross posting to r/dyslexia, r/pathology, and r/medicine to try get as many ideas as possible.

I am an ST4 Histopathology trainee (medical specialty where we look at various things eg moles, organs removed for cancer or other conditions, etc. under the microscope to make a diagnosis). For context the training programme is usually 5.5 years. At the end of my ST1 year I was referred to a wellbeing service due to being slow to get through cases. I was assessed for and subsequently diagnosed with dyslexia with problems with working memory. There's a Royal College Part 1 exam after the first 18 months of training that I took 3 attempts to pass. This consumed most of my ST2 and ST3 years. 

I became ST4 in February and had been preparing for my autopsy exam which also consumed a lot of time. However, this has knocked into my clinical work and I've gotten feedback from multiple teams I've rotated through that I'm not getting through work quick enough, not handling complexity well, and forgetting instructions given to me while dissecting. All of this really knocking my confidence and self esteem while adding stress. I'm staying many extra hours and coming in on off days just to keep up.

Had a meeting with my educational supervisor and the training programme director which was very serious. They both recognised how hard I'm working, that I'm pleasant to work with, and very resilient in seeking out and working on the feedback even when it's not negative. However, they raised the valid point that despite how hard I'm working that I might need to consider something other than pathology due to how much stress it was putting me under. In the end we decided to extend my training my 6 months and drop autopsy training for the time being.

I am really worried as I love pathology and having been away from clinical medicine for so long am not sure how I would cope going back to it.

Do you have any advice for how you handled bigger workloads, time pressures, and handling complex information? 

Thanks in advance!