Is PA a stable job

[CaptainJackSparrow83]

Im currently taking a lengthy LOA from my DO school.
During my free time I was considering either getting my MS in computer science or something along those lines.
I just need some time before I start med school and spend a 7 year stretch but I was just thinking about PA school.
Its a masters degree sort of, I still get to work in healthcare and see patients, and it seems like my salary would almost guaranteed be 80 k or more no matter where I go right?
So I could go rural and make good money ?

Just curious about job stability. The programming industry has lay offs every day and salaries really vary alot from 60 k to 150 k starting depending on where you start.

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[pamac]

The best paid PA that I personally know seems to do quite well in derm, and imagine makes around $150k. A good chunk of their take home involves a production bonus because the practice is more than happy to reward PAs that help bring in work. That industry can be lucrative for PAs if they are good with people and are part of the big picture of enhancing the image of the practice “family”.

Most of my other friends that are PAs/NPs in non psyche areas have a hard time cracking $130, with most making around $115. But I don’t know any of them that don’t have jobs. I haven’t seen the market by me producing jobless grads, but I’ve seen pay go down. An NP friend of mine works with fellow PAs that work a lot harder than I do as a nurse, and if I put the hours in hat they do once their documentation time is factored in, I’d make nearly what they do. Harsh reality for folks who spend $30k to $100k just on school. I’m an Np student too.

Going rural can be lucrative from what I hear, but I haven’t heard numbers that are shockingly different. I think you’d have to visit pretty deep into the sticks to command that kind of bonus anymore.

I can honestly feel you on not wanting to sacrifice the time to medical school, as it was the black cloud hanging over my head every time i though about doing what it takes to become a physician. The decision to opt out of medical school will always appeal to your brain if it hasn’t been a fixation of yours for a long time to become a doctor. However, if you’ve been accepted to DO school, you’ve already laid down some difficult track. There’s a lot of hard work ahead of you, but there’s always that good income available to you.

One reason I’m going to NP school is that in psyche, it’s lucrative enough that if I decided in the near future to cut down to part time, I could easily make as much as I do now as an RN. Imagine how that would work for a physician. Work part time and make as much as a well paid PA. The issue to that is medical school debt and the time you put into medical training. Not maximizing your income after becoming a doctor would be pretty hard to convince yourself not to do. And realistically, I don’t see myself giving up the opportunity as an NP to bring in decent money just to have more down time, at least not for a while.

 

[DizzyJon]

You should stick with DO school. Don't consider PA as a back up career.

 

[CaptainJackSparrow83]

You should stick with DO school. Don't consider PA as a back up career.

Whys that?
My thinking process, is the curriculum would be about the same difficulty, its a 2 year program, and Im almost guaranteed to make 90 k a year in almost any part of the country right? So I could move to a quiet town in the midwest buy a 200 k fancy home and live happy for life.

 

[DizzyJon]

If you are already accepted in a DO program why would you want to put up with some of the crap we PAs have to deal with? You can have a fancy dream of going to practice rural medicine, but who will your collaborating/supervising physician be? Will the laws allow you to have your own practice? Will you have some health care system employer tell you what you can and can not do? Why would you pass up being completely independent as a DO? I would suggest you go to PA school if you posted some clear dedication/passion for the profession. But no, you are posting your desire to be a PA because it will be the easy and quicker way out for you.

Have your thoroughly researched the PA profession? Do you have a clear understanding of practice laws in your state?

 

[AdmiralChz]

Dude, finish DO school and hit up family medicine. You’ll get unlimited autonomy, make double what a PA does and get more respect. You’d be a tough sell for PA school as it seems like you are just searching for an easier road.