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I worked in the medical laboratory for years, and am now a nurse. Nursing isn't the same as being a provider, but I can give you some insight from what I've seen around the hospital and some clinics and urgent cares. When I worked in the lab, we had a pathology lab attached to us, and I saw what you guys do. I personally thought that I spent a lot of time as a tech getting up and down out of a chair or stool, and it wears folks down. The pathology folks walked around, but it seemed more your choice as to when to get up and go fetch something for yourself. When I became a nurse, I was up and down considerably more. And as a nurse, when I get up and move around, its usually not my choice, but as a result of something summoning me at a time that isn't my choosing.... call light, a coworker asking for help, an provider order coming out of nowhere that I need to go address.... stuff like that.
ER providers also seem to have the up and down thing going on, as well as lots of leaning and moving around for procedures and such, so that might be out of the question for you. Urgent care also spent a lot of time in motion. Then you have surgery folks, who stand in surgery. When rounding or in clinic, less movement... unless you are in a specialty with a lot of appointments or procedures crammed in. But certainly, being a provider doesn't involve as much walking as I would do as a nurse in a hospital, which makes sense because its usually a provider's brain that does the lions share of the work.
I think if you want guaranteed time on your butt as a PA, psyche is one of your best bets to give you that lifestyle as a general rule. Apart from that, you will probably have to seek out individual jobs in other arenas to find one that doesn't force you to move a lot. There aren't many true desk jobs for PAs because their value lay in being out diagnosing and ordering treatments. For physicians, radiology (except for those doing a lot of interventional radiology), and pathology are avenues where deskwork is common, but that's not really available for PA's. I've heard of PA's in radiology, but I imagine they are hands on folks. There are career path's out there that are more niche in nature, like Radiology Assistants, and Pathology Assistants, but seem like they might be a dead end and restricted in many areas. RA's probably are procedure helpers and on their feet.
ER providers also seem to have the up and down thing going on, as well as lots of leaning and moving around for procedures and such, so that might be out of the question for you. Urgent care also spent a lot of time in motion. Then you have surgery folks, who stand in surgery. When rounding or in clinic, less movement... unless you are in a specialty with a lot of appointments or procedures crammed in. But certainly, being a provider doesn't involve as much walking as I would do as a nurse in a hospital, which makes sense because its usually a provider's brain that does the lions share of the work.
I think if you want guaranteed time on your butt as a PA, psyche is one of your best bets to give you that lifestyle as a general rule. Apart from that, you will probably have to seek out individual jobs in other arenas to find one that doesn't force you to move a lot. There aren't many true desk jobs for PAs because their value lay in being out diagnosing and ordering treatments. For physicians, radiology (except for those doing a lot of interventional radiology), and pathology are avenues where deskwork is common, but that's not really available for PA's. I've heard of PA's in radiology, but I imagine they are hands on folks. There are career path's out there that are more niche in nature, like Radiology Assistants, and Pathology Assistants, but seem like they might be a dead end and restricted in many areas. RA's probably are procedure helpers and on their feet.
In psyche you sit. Getting up and walking someone out is probably the best way to see someone to the door. If you are walking into a room where a patient is waiting, that's also another step that might be necessary if you don't have staff brining a parade of folks through to you, which is a common scenario as well. You might have a few rooms with patients waiting for you to come in and see them, and you bounce between rooms. I feel like the optics of that are much better than staying put and having people brought before you. As a PA, (and even if you were an NP working for someone) you will probably have that decision handed to you, and will need to negotiate for accommodation if you want it to be otherwise.
