Happy with the PA route?

[Gatewayhoward]

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I have several years to go to get my bio/premed degree. I've decided not to be naive and to fully decide where I want to move up to in medicine (I'm a paramedic) until around the time I graduate.
Thing is, I don't want to settle. I don't care about the cost/liability/time it takes to become a physician, but if I truly don't see med school in my future, I'll definetly go the PA route. But I'll do it only because I'd want to be a PA.

My experience in asking around, is that many PA's seem to love what they do and physicians seem to complain about it. I had a cardiologist tell me his job is nothing more than "abuse." I think he was talking about the hours and stress. I've also have more than one patient tell me that they'd rather see their primary care PA than MD.
So for the PA's and NP's out there, do you ever feel like you're in the shadow of the doctors?

 

[deleted6669]

if you have the time and resources to be a doc go that route. many of us who are now pa's worked our way up the ladder as medics/rn's/rt's and reached a point in our lives where it was impractical to be a med student/resident for 7 years due to mortgages, family comittments, etc
I like my job as an em pa and have quite a bit of autonomy as I have been working in em for almost 20 years now.there are still days that I wish I was a doc but they are getting fewer and farther between as I get older. I can't complain about my lifestyle. I make very good money(>125k/yr) and have no debt. I work 18 days a month which allows me time to pursue mtn climbing, scuba diving, white water rafting, etc and still see my family.

 

[core0]

I have several years to go to get my bio/premed degree. I've decided not to be naive and to fully decide where I want to move up to in medicine (I'm a paramedic) until around the time I graduate.
Thing is, I don't want to settle. I don't care about the cost/liability/time it takes to become a physician, but if I truly don't see med school in my future, I'll definetly go the PA route. But I'll do it only because I'd want to be a PA.

My experience in asking around, is that many PA's seem to love what they do and physicians seem to complain about it. I had a cardiologist tell me his job is nothing more than "abuse." I think he was talking about the hours and stress. I've also have more than one patient tell me that they'd rather see their primary care PA than MD.
So for the PA's and NP's out there, do you ever feel like you're in the shadow of the doctors?

Part of this is about wether you can be a crew member instead of the captain of a ship. As a PA you may have considerable autonomy, but you will never have independent practice. I don't have to worry about the business or what goes on in the office. I just show up and do my work. I go home at night, don't take any call. So I don't get as much as my SP, but I don't have the headaches. What made my choice between med school and PA school easy was that I saw a lot of MD's that were unhappy with the kind of specialty that they were in. However, once you buy the lifestyle, it's hard to give up. I've only seen one MD go back and do a fellowship to change specialties. When I grow tired with this job, I'll move on. On the average PA's change jobs every five years.

David Carpenter, PA-C