Satisfied with being a PA?

[Dr 14220]

So I've heard/read about several PAs who enjoy what they do, but either wished they had gone to medical school or plan to go to medical school in the future.

My question is.....How many of you are satisfied with "just" being a PA???

What are the things you like best and least about your job/profession as a PA?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[igcgnerd]

oh no, this should be good

 

[deleted6669]

most days I like being a pa, especially the days I work with an md nowhere in sight( I cover the e.d. on night shift solo several times/mo).
pros: great money with no school debt and ability to change specialties without going back to school.
cons: many state medical boards make getting licensed a major hassle taking > 3 mo.
some md's(maybe 5%) REALLY dislike the pa concept and hate all pa's regardless of their individual abilities/skills so talking to them on the phone to arrange a consult/admission is a major pain. reporting these physicians to hospital/dept chiefs for their poor behavior has helped in the past. I have had surgeons refuse to see pts with appendicitis proven by ct because I am a pa and for no other reason. not acceptable.

overall I am happy with my choice. if there was a 2 yr pa to md/do bridge I would probably go back for my doctorate otherwise I am happy where I am now. as a specialty pa I make more money than many primary care md's with no overhead of any kind and all my benefits paid. within 10-15 yrs the pa concept will be international and pa's will be able to work anywhere. in any type of socialized medicine system we will always have a job as we cost less than physicians to provide essentially the same service in most settings.

if you are serious about considering a career as a pa check out the following:
www.aapa.org
www.physicianassistant.net
www.appap.org

 

[horsenurse25]

As far as I know, at this point PAs are only in the US, is that right?? Do they have them in Canada or Europe?? Do you expect they ever will??

I am curious because you mention socialized medicine, but as far as I know, they are not used in countries that have socialized medicine.

 

[deleted6669]

As far as I know, at this point PAs are only in the US, is that right?? Do they have them in Canada or Europe?? Do you expect they ever will??

I am curious because you mention socialized medicine, but as far as I know, they are not used in countries that have socialized medicine.

American trained pa's can now work in england, scotland,and 2 provinces of canada(manitoba and ontario).
australia is starting a pa program this year. holland graduated their 1st class of pa's last yr.
their are pilot pa programs being started all over the world.
take a look at the back of the aapa journal any month and there are always a few international jobs aside from those always available with the state dept, peace corps, cia, etc
check out www.healthforceontario.com for info on pa's in ontario.
from that site:
Ontario's Physician Assistant Initiative

In May 2006, the government introduced a new health human resources strategy, HealthForceOntario, to address the shortage of health care professionals in key areas. New health care provider roles were announced to meet needs in high-demand areas such as emergency care, surgical services and cancer care.
One of the new roles – the physician assistant (PA) – is being introduced to Ontario's health care system by way of various demonstration pilot projects. One-year emergency department pilot projects are underway at six hospitals to evaluate new care teams that include physician assistants and acute care and primary health care nurse practitioners.
Currently, a two-year pilot project involving PAs in other hospital settings is being carried out jointly by the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, the Ontario Medical Association and the Ontario Hospital Association. The following hospitals are now recruiting formally educated PAs for the Hospital Demonstration Project. The hospitals include large tertiary care centres, academic health sciences centres and community hospitals in both urban and rural settings. The hospitals are located in the communities of Toronto, Blind River, Cambridge, Kitchener, Hawkesbury, Kirkland Lake, Markham, Simcoe, Peterborough, Barry's Bay, London, New Liskeard (Temiskaming Shores), Ottawa and Windsor.
For the two-year Primary Care Demonstration Project, community health centres in Ottawa, Hamilton and Sudbury are currently recruiting formally educated PAs.


see the thread here in the clinicians forum from last yr on american pa's working in er's in england.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=342356&highlight=england

 

[Chronic Student]

If I would have decided on a career in healthcare earlier, I would have gone to med school. However, I was in my thirties when I decided what I wanted to do.

So, I took the easy way out. I freely admit this and I had already been in school for a decade when I entered PA school (I usually worked full time and took classes part time. I don't reccomend it).

I also looked at earning potential, mobility, hassle-factor, wanting to start a family, etc.

Overall, I'm pretty happy being a PA. There are some bad parts, like some doctors, nurses, etc attitudes towards us and the fact that there are still plenty of people who don't even know what a PA is.

However, I make good money. I enjoy helping people with a few rare exceptions (read totally ungrateful pricks) and don't have the HA of running a business. I also know that if I get tired of neurosurgery then I can go work in the ER, which is one of the best things about being a PA.

I just does not make economic sense at this point for me to go to med school. I would shell out 150,000 plus in tuition and living expenses, 400,000 in earnings while in med school and anywhere from 180,000 to 400,000 plus while in residency. That is a total of 730,000 to 950,000 to be a doctor. It would take awhile to recoup my costs and it is really hard to give up the standard of living I have now, even with my student loans, etc. Especially when I have some bills taken care of in the near future.

Would I go back if a grateful patient said they would pay for my schooling, probably.

My advice to you would be to shadow both doctors and PAs and see what they do and also that if you are young, just go to med school. If you are older, than the decision becomes more difficult.

Just my .02.

-Mike

 

[deleted92121]

if you are young, just go to med school. If you are older, than the decision becomes more difficult.

I hear this a lot from those on the PA Forums, but I am not sure if I understand why yet. I have some thoughts on the subject though that may help facilitate some discussion.

1. Some people do not have the drive to make it through medical school and residency. So what is the "next best thing"...you got it, PA. (Not my personal view so please don't attack)

2. Some people are okay with being a lower rank than someone else and not carrying the weight of the world. Why would you not tell a nursing student that they are young and should go become a doctor because they could do more and so on. Why is this thought only projected to young Pre-PA students?

Personally, I have the drive and ability to make it through medical school. That was never a question. But I do not want to do it (desire) and nothing I do will put me at the same level, in the field of medicine, as physicians. Becoming a PA is not "the next best thing". That is disingenuous to the PA profession. But you are still a vital part of healthcare, just like RN, RRT, NP, CNA, and the techs and escorts. I want to be a PA to practice medicine and still be able to work as a Paramedic and teach EMT-B and EMT-P classes. I know what my role will be as a PA and with that I am very happy.

dxu

 

[Chronic Student]

My replies would be:

To #1 - There is some truth to this. As you get older you do tend to lose some steam and are less able to handle the rigors of med school and residency. This is a general trend I'm talking about and not neccesarily true of every one.

To #2 - It is my opinion that there are a fair amount of PA students who could succeed in medical school. The percentage of nursing students who could do that is, IMO, less. In addition, nursing is a different career from medicine, where PA is quite similar.

In my case, as I stated before, if I would have made up my damn mind earlier than I would have gone to med school. In my situation, I am quite happy as a PA and enjoy my job a great deal. I am old enough to understand that the grass is not always greener on the other side and that you are going to put up with your ration of sh**, no matter what your job is.

I will be content with that...

...for now.

-Mike

 

[primadonna22274]

I'm one of those often-unsatisfied PAs.
Some days are better than others. When I work with the docs who know my skills and trust my experience and knowledge base (and vice-versa), it's a good day. When I work with the newbie just out of residency who doesn't know me and wants to nitpick every little detail of my H&P and treatment plan, not so much. (As in, hey guy, I've been doing this since before you started med school. I've learned a thing or two.)
There are plenty of times that I come up against the limits of my knowledge. So I read more, and learn more. We don't get the same information overload in PA school that the docs get in their didactic training. It's just not possible to cover it all. It's said that we as PAs make a commitment to lifelong learning--well, shouldn't we all? there's too much for any of us to know, so we should just commit to keep learning new stuff. I try to learn something new every day.
I go back and forth on the med school question. It truly is a financial hardship to go back at this point in my life, and I've been in it less time than Emed, and I certainly am not in his financial position of being debt-free. To me the notion of more debt is extremely unappetizing, particularly if it's to do more of what I already do and get paid a little bit more for it. I would really have to get paid a LOT more than I do now to make it financially worthwhile. It's not all about money, and when my romantic side gets the better of me I do silly romantic things like take the MCAT and write personal statements. Then the romance fizzles and I settle back to real life where I have time to read a fluffy book and drink wine and enjoy my days NOT working.
I also don't have kids yet and would like to (I think). My sweetheart is a poor teacher who could not support us in the style to which we've become accustomed and I'm not excited about being poor and selling my house at this point in my life. So yeah, there are those things about being more mature that make med school unattractive at this point in my life.
This is the third year that I was this close to applying and shut it down again. When it comes down to it I think I'm afraid of being accepted and feeling I have to take that leap when I'm not sure if I really want it that bad. I just accepted a new job and will give that a try for a while. I've gotten back into gardening and had some marionberry vines shipped to me from home (Oregon) and will try them here in SC. I'm working on some spiritual development and just enjoying life.
Now tell me again why I would give that up?

 

[JoHa]

As a kid, you were possibly confused the first time you found out that a professor could be called doctor. Later on you may have found that the best professors were the ones least concerned with being called "doctor". But, even the annoying ones who insisted on the title would not have been successful without the support structure of academia. So why not in medicine?

If MDs are truly doctors of medicine, don't they deserve a similar support structure? Just as their academic counterpart wouldn't waste their valuable time grading 101 level papers while researching the intricacies of Shakespeare, an MD should be allowed to focus their attention where it is needed most.

Successful PAs know their role as physician extenders and embrace it. This can be a FP PA who keeps clinic rolling because they see the bulk of the colds, sports physicals, etc while their doc focuses on more acute cases. Many ERs are overwhelmed by those who treat them as walk-in clinics coughs and colds. Do you want an MD there focusing on the trauma or on the runny nose?

Many of the PAs I've come in contact come from small towns. Rural medicine, for many programs, is a fundamental aspect of their training. Few doctors would choose Newport, Oregon over New York City if given the choice (for our European readers, would you want to be in Doolin or Dublin?), but the PAs who truly embrace their profession see it as their duty to affect the under served.

So I really see your question as the wrong one. Don't get me wrong. I know PAs who wish they had gone to med school. They specialized, started working with surgeons and began wishing that they could have the money and status of their buddies. That, however, is a question of ego and a question of finance. Questions they should have asked themselves before they ever sent in an application to PA school.

I ask that any of you using this forum as you weigh your options between MD and PA keep some of this in mind. Particularly those of you who are new to the concept of the PA.

 

[primadonna22274]

Just to nitpick: if they had been to Newport, OR and the Rogue Brewery it would be a no-brainer.
God, I miss decent beer...and the cold Pacific Ocean....

As a kid, you were possibly confused the first time you found out that a professor could be called doctor. Later on you may have found that the best professors were the ones least concerned with being called "doctor". But, even the annoying ones who insisted on the title would not have been successful without the support structure of academia. So why not in medicine?

If MDs are truly doctors of medicine, don't they deserve a similar support structure? Just as their academic counterpart wouldn't waste their valuable time grading 101 level papers while researching the intricacies of Shakespeare, an MD should be allowed to focus their attention where it is needed most.

Successful PAs know their role as physician extenders and embrace it. This can be a FP PA who keeps clinic rolling because they see the bulk of the colds, sports physicals, etc while their doc focuses on more acute cases. Many ERs are overwhelmed by those who treat them as walk-in clinics coughs and colds. Do you want an MD there focusing on the trauma or on the runny nose?

Many of the PAs I've come in contact come from small towns. Rural medicine, for many programs, is a fundamental aspect of their training. Few doctors would choose Newport, Oregon over New York City if given the choice (for our European readers, would you want to be in Doolin or Dublin?), but the PAs who truly embrace their profession see it as their duty to affect the under served.

So I really see your question as the wrong one. Don't get me wrong. I know PAs who wish they had gone to med school. They specialized, started working with surgeons and began wishing that they could have the money and status of their buddies. That, however, is a question of ego and a question of finance. Questions they should have asked themselves before they ever sent in an application to PA school.

I ask that any of you using this forum as you weigh your options between MD and PA keep some of this in mind. Particularly those of you who are new to the concept of the PA.

 

[guetzow]

So I've heard/read about several PAs who enjoy what they do, but either wished they had gone to medical school or plan to go to medical school in the future.

My question is.....How many of you are satisfied with "just" being a PA???

What are the things you like best and least about your job/profession as a PA?

Six Figures and NO CALL. Uhhh.....yeah, I'm satisfied.