are PA residency programs a good idea?

[Drexel PA]

I will be graduating this August and have been debating on whether or not to apply for a PA residency program. My strongest interest is in surgery, but there seems to be a lot of disagreement whether a surgical residency would be beneficial. Most of the jobs that are posted require at least 1 year experience, although many of the physicians I've talked to prefer the idea of being able to train a new graduate. How does a new graduate get experience unless he or she applies to residency?

Or would it be better to work first in an area such as Internal medicine, Emergency medicine, or family practice before making a transition into surgery?

Does anyone (PA or physician) have any insight?

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[core0]

I will be graduating this August and have been debating on whether or not to apply for a PA residency program. My strongest interest is in surgery, but there seems to be a lot of disagreement whether a surgical residency would be beneficial. Most of the jobs that are posted require at least 1 year experience, although many of the physicians I've talked to prefer the idea of being able to train a new graduate. How does a new graduate get experience unless he or she applies to residency?

Or would it be better to work first in an area such as Internal medicine, Emergency medicine, or family practice before making a transition into surgery?

Does anyone (PA or physician) have any insight?

You might get better info on the PAforums. There was a discussion on this not long ago. Post grad programs still train a very small percentage of all PAs. They are probably most important in CV, especially in smaller groups where they may not have time to train you in vein harvesting. General surgery usually is happy to train a new PA as long as you have the basic skills. An extra rotation in surgery is always helpful. My call is that post grad programs are for those who aren't as sure of the basics as they want to be or want to go into a specialty with a steep learning curve like Critical care or CVS.

David Carpenter, PA-C

 

[deleted6669]

pa residencies are an excellent idea.
there is a pa residency discussion forum at the pa forum at www.physicianassistant.net
the moderator of that forum is a surgical residency grad.
I know lots of surgical pa's both those who have done residencies and those who haven't. the residency crowd has better jobs, more job security, and more job satisfaction.
if you want surgery do that 1st, not another field.
in case you don't have this the pa residencies are listed with links at www.appap.org
drexel pa-congrats on your attendance at an excellent program- I'm an alum from back in the hahnemann days...hi to pat....

 

[Chronic Student]

If you have some background in surgery (say a circulating nurse or scrub tech) then it is less of an issue. If you do not have background a residency can be extremely helpful and even if you do have background than a residency has a lot to offer.

Several of my classmates ended up going to the Yale residency and I was extremely jealous of what they were going to get to do and I already had a background in surgery. At Yale the PA's function as housestaff (don't flame me that is what they were told in interviews) and as far as I can tell that is right on the money.

In a lot of ways they will be much better off than I was as their training was specific to their needs (mine was as a scrub tech, not a PA). Mine was helpful, but not spot-on as to my duties.

I also knew that I wanted to do either ortho or neuro and managed to get a neuro rotation which allowed me to hit the ground running.

-Mike

 

[deleted6669]

If you have some background in surgery (say a circulating nurse or scrub tech) then it is less of an issue. If you do not have background a residency can be extremely helpful and even if you do have background than a residency has a lot to offer.

Several of my classmates ended up going to the Yale residency and I was extremely jealous of what they were going to get to do and I already had a background in surgery. At Yale the PA's function as housestaff (don't flame me that is what they were told in interviews) and as far as I can tell that is right on the money.

In a lot of ways they will be much better off than I was as their training was specific to their needs (mine was as a scrub tech, not a PA). Mine was helpful, but not spot-on as to my duties.

I also knew that I wanted to do either ortho or neuro and managed to get a neuro rotation which allowed me to hit the ground running.

-Mike

everything they say about yale/norwalk is true. a good friend of mine went there and I visited him there. pa's run the floors, the icu, the clinics, and take all 1st call in the hospital.
there are docs available on call but the day to day running of the facility is done by the pa residents. for surgical pts going to the o.r. the pa does the initial assessment, schedules the o.r., and calls in the surgeon from home and starts the case then 1st assists when they arrive.
my friend stayed on as residency faculty for a yr after graduation and was the chief of the icu that yr.
another friend of mine went to montefiore in the bronx, ny. same deal. didn't visit there but know 2 of their grads and hear the same as norwalk.