Why we publish this magazine
Welcome to PathWay, a unique magazine in Australian publishing. Pathway is a special collaboration between the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia and the Australian Department of Health and Ageing, in association with S2i Communications. It is appropriate to explain the rationale behind the magazine's production.
Despite the widespread exposure afforded fictional forensic pathologists in novels, on television and on the silver screen, the breadth and depth of pathology and its disciplines is neither widely known nor appreciated.
Most people do not realise that pathologists diagnose every detected cancer in the world and that they are involved in the diagnosis and monitoring of all acute and chronic illnesses, such as diabetes, blood disorders and infections. Even less well known is that pathologists are also intimately involved in the management of these often life threatening conditions.
Pathologists are first and foremost doctors. It is the linkage of medical training and practice with a minimum of five years scientific/laboratory training that allows them to play such a vital role in health care delivery. With eight subspecialties (anatomical pathology, chemical pathology, forensic pathology, general pathology, genetic, haematology, immunopathology and microbiology), there is scope for a wide range of professional and intellectual challenges and, importantly, in all of the subdisciplines the need to apply skills acquired in medical schools.
Yet there is an acute shortage of pathologists. Why? In fact there is a worldwide crisis in the pathology workforce. In Australia, the reasons arise from a range of factors. Key among them are:
Cost pressures on health budgets during the late eighties and nineties prompted hospitals to use laboratory productivity to reduce the numbers of positions for pathology trainees, in fact over the last 10 years 70 positions or some 22% were cut;
There have been tremendous advances in pathology that allow more tailor-made diagnoses for individual patients, which has been one of the most exciting developments in pathology. However these advances have dramatically increased the workload of pathologists. For example, 10 years ago an anatomical pathologist would need to look at only two slides under a microscope to diagnose breast cancer, today there can be up to 50, however this means the patient will be able to receive much more targeted and effective therapy.
These factors apply equally to other areas in Australasia and the wider international community.
A recent review of the pathology workforce by the Australian Medical Workforce Advisory Committee recommended that an additional 100 training positions be funded. This is a huge number when one considers that currently there are only 250 training positions in total and only 1250 practising pathologists in Australia. There is a compelling need to have these additional 100 positions for pathologists funded by federal, state and territory governments immediately. The RCPA is working with these agencies to obtain funding.
It will also be important to attract young medical practitioners to a career in pathology. However, many medical students, like the broader community, have little understanding of what a fascinating career option pathology is. We hope articles in PathWay, will demonstrate how interesting and rewarding a career in pathology can be.
The magazine will be produced quarterly. The editorial policy for PathWay will ensure that this magazine is anything but technical. We intend to make PathWay as riveting a "read" as any other quality magazine available to you today - but always with the strong message that "pathology is medicine" - because it is.