Really lost on what I should do.. PA or MD

[allied32]

I've been planning on going the PA route, but I do not want to regret not "going all the way" with MD. My cGPA is 3.5 and sGPA 3.4. So, they are not that great. I work in a group home for people who have mental disabilities (about 1000 hours), and will also be volunteering with hospice and an animal shelter over summers. I have not done any research although I could because I am in such a small school. I would also have to take more time off to take physics and calc for med school so my volunteer and HCE hours would be more. Basically, would I have the stats to get into med school, or should I just stick to PA? Also, I don't know if this would make a difference but I can be dependent if I'm not sure what I am talking about it. I like to do things by myself if I am confident in my abilities. So, I'm worried that I'll be a 60 year old PA (knowing what I'm doing) and still be a dependent health care provider.

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[emflem]

Stick to PA. PAs are great and don't require the effort or responsibility of an MD.

 

[Catalystik]

I've been planning on going the PA route, but I do not want to regret not "going all the way" with MD. My cGPA is 3.5 and sGPA 3.4. So, they are not that great. I work in a group home for people who have mental disabilities (about 1000 hours), and will also be volunteering with hospice and an animal shelter over summers. I have not done any research although I could because I am in such a small school. I would also have to take more time off to take physics and calc for med school so my volunteer and HCE hours would be more. Basically, would I have the stats to get into med school, or should I just stick to PA? Also, I don't know if this would make a difference but I can be dependent if I'm not sure what I am talking about it. I like to do things by myself if I am confident in my abilities. So, I'm worried that I'll be a 60 year old PA (knowing what I'm doing) and still be a dependent health care provider.

You have the GPA numbers to get into DO schools or even a lenient public state school, depending on the strength of your MCAT score. It isn't clear how much more time you will stay in undergrad and what your final GPAs might be if you aced everything from here out. You might figure that out with one of the AMCAS GPA calculators if you want fine-tuned input.

 

[Lucca]

PA and MD are different careers. What are your motivations for doing the MD? If it is only to "go all of the way" then that isn't a good enough reason in my eyes. Everyone second guesses themselves. Why did you choose PA to begin with?

 

[allied32]

PA and MD are different careers. What are your motivations for doing the MD? If it is only to "go all of the way" then that isn't a good enough reason in my eyes. Everyone second guesses themselves. Why did you choose PA to begin with?

I chose PA because of less debt while still being able to practice medicine. Also, I liked the PA-patient interaction better. It seemed the PA was more of a human, in essence because they were always easier to talk to. But, now I think about it and know that I would not be one of those impersonal doctors. I also don't feel as if debt would be that big of a deal because it is truly something I want to do. So I basically picked PA because it would be an easier, faster route.

 

[Lucca]

I chose PA because of less debt while still being able to practice medicine. Also, I liked the PA-patient interaction better. It seemed the PA was more of a human, in essence because they were always easier to talk to. But, now I think about it and know that I would not be one of those impersonal doctors. I also don't feel as if debt would be that big of a deal because it is truly something I want to do. So I basically picked PA because it would be an easier, faster route.

An easier faster route to a career that is totally different. Docs are hardly ever "impersonal" from my shadowing experiences. They are just busy and that seriously hamstrings their ability to see patients, often for things they dont even want to do (dictation, charting, heavy patient loads, something goes wrong somewhere).

The way I see it, and this is probably an imperfect view, if your goal is to see patients, take histories, perform physicals and do all of the communicating bit of medicine across a variety of different specialties and practice environments that you are free to change depending on your needs with little hassle while still having an important (but not executive) role on the health care team on the more diagnostic side of medicine (while nursing would fall under the non-diagnostic care delivery side) then PA is the way to go.

However, if you want to do research, teach, want to become highly knowledgeable and skilled in a certain facet of medicine (that is, your specialty), carry the responsibility for the treatment and outcome of your patients, and a play a more central role in the delivery and management of healthcare without having to answer to anyone (at least for your diagnostic reasoning, you will definitely have to deal with administration, insurance companies, malpractice, pharm companies, etc far more than a PA would) then I recommend the DO/MD route.

To be completely honest, I would keep going the PA route. If your goals are "faster and easier" (which is not to say you are lazy or something, these are perfectly legitimate things to want) then MD/DO will probably not satisfy you. Being a physician never ends, the responsibility is huge and the bull**** is high. However, that is what attracts many people (at least myself) to the profession. If you want your education to end at some point without the constant weight of staying up to date on every advancement, managing your team, dealing with lawsuits or admin crap, dictation and billing etc. then I would definitely go PA. There is nothing about medicine that is fast and easy, it is all long and hard. The difference is that in the clinics where I've shadowed the PAs go home but the doc always has more work to do, more studying, more dictating, more research loose ends if they have any.

 

[DokterMom]

Or in a nutshell, if you want to be a "worker bee" and do most of the work a primary care physician does with more freedom and less pressure, then go PA. It's a great job doing interesting, valuable work.

But if you need to be in charge and would find it professionally intolerable to know that no matter what you do or how much you know, you will never be the boss, then go MD.

 

[Holmwood]

So, I'm worried that I'll be a 60 year old PA (knowing what I'm doing) and still be a dependent health care provider.

Mm. If you have that sort of an ego issue, you can always open up your own clinic and hire an MD.

 

[Dr Van Helsing]

Good question OP; good luck.

 

[Catalystik]

But if you need to be in charge and would find it professionally intolerable to know that no matter what you do or how much you know, you will never be the boss, then go MD.

Even as an MD, you may still be subject to hospital/medicare/insurance requirements, institutional policy, department head oversight/peer review, and/or group practice-partner expectations.