Considering PA and want to have any flaws in my reasoning exposed

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Aerin Sol

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I've read most of the PA vs. MD/DO threads here and am aware of most of the main arguments, but wanted to explain my reasonings for being interested in PA and seeing if anyone can find any flaws for it, since so many posters here to seem to enjoy pointing out flaws, heh. Feel free to be mean and thanks for any counter-arguments!

Argument #1: Money. I don't want to be super rich. I had a very comfortable childhood with 2 parents and 2 children on about $60,000/year. I'd be happy with just myself and even the lowest PA salary (which from the data I've seen is an average of ~$68,000 for ob/gyn PAs). I will never have children and even if I partnered up with someone who didn't work we'd be happy.

Argument #2: Prestige. I don't really care about this. Just having a job that I enjoy and make a comfortable wage on is enough for me.

Argument #3: Specialization. I think I would be much happier with the PA's much easier (relatively speaking) ability to switch specialties than an MD/DO's.

Argument #4: Practicing abroad. I am very interested in working abroad in almost any country. It seems like this is the one area where MD/DO makes more sense, especially if I am looking to work in a hospital environment, as PAs are not recognized in most other countries. However, it seems that PAs have enough opportunities via federal jobs, NGOs, remote locations, and charity work, plus the countries where they are/will be recognized.

Argument #5: Residency. I don't want to go through medical school and not get a residency, nor do I really want to work 80 hrs/wk for 3-7 years if I do get one.

Argument #6: Scope of practice. The speciality that I'm most interested in (ob/gyn) doesn't seem to have too much of a difference, other than leading surgeries, which I am not interested in performing. I could still do exams, counseling/education, and prescriptions.

Argument #7: Lifestyle. I know there are good MD/DO specialities for lifestyle, but they are all hard to match into. I don't want to go through 4 years of med school hoping to get one of the most sought after residencies.

Argument #8: Research/teaching. I am not interested in these.

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sounds reasonable.
if you are interested there is an excellent 1 yr post grad obgyn residency for pa's in california at arrowhead medical ctr.
some of my former students have gone there before and had great experiences which lead to great jobs upon completion..

http://www.appap.org/ca.html#on
 
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