MD/DO or PA?

[Deleted member 755173]

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.

 

[Frogger27]

Can you provide grades, MCAT and ECs for more context/better advice?

 

[WedgeDawg]

I think the year off to figure this out, especially since you're only 19, sounds like a good idea to me

 

[BombsAway]

No one else can answer this for you. If you can't, you need to get more exposure to both fields. If you still can't decide, you need to wait.

 

[Conflagration]

And also- if you were to go the PA route, you will probably need to rack up a bunch hours in a healthcare field, like as an EMT or something of that variety.

Neither field is a bad choice. Good luck OP.

 

[----x----]

I can't tell you what you should do, but I can give you reasons why I chose what I did and perhaps that will help you think through your decision.

I graduated undergrad at age 22, had already done an internship in healthcare admin and didn't want to do just that, so I worked as a medical scribe in an ER to see if medicine in general was for me.
After almost 1 year in the ER I thought yeah, but I'll do PA for these reasons:

• Less time commitment
• Greater "work life balance"
• Financially isn't significantly worse long run, better short run (>70k/yr = no big increase in quality of life)
• Lateral Mobility to move specialties and keep it interesting
• Similar day to day work

So I then spent about more 1 year continuing to work, but also taking a few pre-requisites at a community college as PA schools needed some different courses. I scribed in multiple specialties and care settings, working with MD/DO and PA/NP. After that second year I knew PA would be a bad option for me personally, even though on paper it looks like the better general option.

• I enjoy learning more than many of my peers, and would regret not learning all I can about medicine. This is a regret some PAs have voiced, wishing they knew more.
• PAs sometimes know what the "cookbook" calls for, but not why the ingredients work together well. They get what should be done but not always everything behind why it's done that way.
• The "work life balance" of a PA is dependent on the physician group/hospital. Sometimes PA/NP have it as bad or worse (scut work is loaded to them).
• Except in primary care, you usually don't have your own patients. I'm interested in specialties, in that setting I'd just see follow ups for doctors who have busy schedules essentially. I wouldn't create my own care plan, but just make adjustments within another established plan (not choose what chemo regimen, but dose reduce for toxicity for example). When you do have your own patients like in the ER, it's not uncommon that you're relegated to a "fast track" sniffles/cough section.
• I can handle being under someone, but I thrive more when I'm leading and value autonomy. I think I would resent having to defer to the MD eventually especially if I thought I was correct on a key point. I'd hate hitting a "ceiling" as a midlevel and staying there for >20 years.
• Lateral mobility may be decreasing in the future as PA residencies continue to spring up. Certifications like in nursing aren't that hard to see coming, and it's difficult to move from one specialty to an unrelated specialty.

• After working with PA students, and PA-C's in an ER residency, I don't feel comfortable doing the PA route based on its structure. It was designed for established medical professionals (like paramedics for example) to step up to a mid level role instead of doing 10 years of medical training. It was not designed for 21 year old undergrads with 200 hours of volunteering stacking blankets in an ER and 1 summer working fulltime as a CNA. I am concerned about new PAs as their program really doesn't prepare them well enough to act on their own but sometimes their "supervising" physician doesn't want to be training someone, they hired them to decrease their workload not increase it. I didn't want to feel like I was learning a ton "on the job" but rather that I was an expert prepared for the job. Speaking with PAs they felt they learned most of their practical knowledge after graduation (just like Residency for physicians) - but they are being trained by a random physician group who needed someone to help with workload, not a training program. I could do a ~9-18 mo residency but those are rare in specialties, primarily for ER/surgical areas.

So, in my third year since graduation, I continued to scribe in various settings, and took the MCAT instead of the GRE. I applied to med schools and now am going to start in August. I have absolutely no misgivings about this being the right choice for me personally.

 

[mimelim]

I can't tell you what you should do, but I can give you reasons why I chose what I did and perhaps that will help you think through your decision.

I graduated undergrad at age 22, had already done an internship in healthcare admin and didn't want to do just that, so I worked as a medical scribe in an ER to see if medicine in general was for me.
After almost 1 year in the ER I thought yeah, but I'll do PA for these reasons:

• Less time commitment
• Greater "work life balance"
• Financially isn't significantly worse long run, better short run (>70k/yr = no big increase in quality of life)
• Lateral Mobility to move specialties and keep it interesting
• Similar day to day work

So I then spent about more 1 year continuing to work, but also taking a few pre-requisites at a community college as PA schools needed some different courses. I scribed in multiple specialties and care settings, working with MD/DO and PA/NP. After that second year I knew PA would be a bad option for me personally, even though on paper it looks like the better general option.

• I enjoy learning more than many of my peers, and would regret not learning all I can about medicine. This is a regret some PAs have voiced, wishing they knew more.
• PAs sometimes know what the "cookbook" calls for, but not why the ingredients work together well. They get what should be done but not always everything behind why it's done that way.
• The "work life balance" of a PA is dependent on the physician group/hospital. Sometimes PA/NP have it as bad or worse (scut work is loaded to them).
• Except in primary care, you usually don't have your own patients. I'm interested in specialties, in that setting I'd just see follow ups for doctors who have busy schedules essentially. I wouldn't create my own care plan, but just make adjustments within another established plan (not choose what chemo regimen, but dose reduce for toxicity for example). When you do have your own patients like in the ER, it's not uncommon that you're relegated to a "fast track" sniffles/cough section.
• I can handle being under someone, but I thrive more when I'm leading and value autonomy. I think I would resent having to defer to the MD eventually especially if I thought I was correct on a key point. I'd hate hitting a "ceiling" as a midlevel and staying there for >20 years.
• Lateral mobility may be decreasing in the future as PA residencies continue to spring up. Certifications like in nursing aren't that hard to see coming, and it's difficult to move from one specialty to an unrelated specialty.

• After working with PA students, and PA-C's in an ER residency, I don't feel comfortable doing the PA route based on its structure. It was designed for established medical professionals (like paramedics for example) to step up to a mid level role instead of doing 10 years of medical training. It was not designed for 21 year old undergrads with 200 hours of volunteering stacking blankets in an ER and 1 summer working fulltime as a CNA. I am concerned about new PAs as their program really doesn't prepare them well enough to act on their own but sometimes their "supervising" physician doesn't want to be training someone, they hired them to decrease their workload not increase it. I didn't want to feel like I was learning a ton "on the job" but rather that I was an expert prepared for the job. Speaking with PAs they felt they learned most of their practical knowledge after graduation (just like Residency for physicians) - but they are being trained by a random physician group who needed someone to help with workload, not a training program. I could do a ~9-18 mo residency but those are rare in specialties, primarily for ER/surgical areas.

So, in my third year since graduation, I continued to scribe in various settings, and took the MCAT instead of the GRE. I applied to med schools and now am going to start in August. I have absolutely no misgivings about this being the right choice for me personally.

I think this is a pretty solid starting point. Nice post++

 

[787593]

• Financially isn't significantly worse long run, better short run (>70k/yr = no big increase in quality of life)

.

Definitely disagree. Mostly because I want kids and they're really darn expensive 🙂

 

[cbrons]

Dont take a year off. Its a waste. Your smart enough to finish college at 19. Just go to med school.

Sent from my SM-N910P using SDN mobile

 

[group_theory]

I can't tell you what you should do, but I can give you reasons why I chose what I did and perhaps that will help you think through your decision.

I graduated undergrad at age 22, had already done an internship in healthcare admin and didn't want to do just that, so I worked as a medical scribe in an ER to see if medicine in general was for me.
After almost 1 year in the ER I thought yeah, but I'll do PA for these reasons:

• Less time commitment
• Greater "work life balance"
• Financially isn't significantly worse long run, better short run (>70k/yr = no big increase in quality of life)
• Lateral Mobility to move specialties and keep it interesting
• Similar day to day work

So I then spent about more 1 year continuing to work, but also taking a few pre-requisites at a community college as PA schools needed some different courses. I scribed in multiple specialties and care settings, working with MD/DO and PA/NP. After that second year I knew PA would be a bad option for me personally, even though on paper it looks like the better general option.

• I enjoy learning more than many of my peers, and would regret not learning all I can about medicine. This is a regret some PAs have voiced, wishing they knew more.
• PAs sometimes know what the "cookbook" calls for, but not why the ingredients work together well. They get what should be done but not always everything behind why it's done that way.
• The "work life balance" of a PA is dependent on the physician group/hospital. Sometimes PA/NP have it as bad or worse (scut work is loaded to them).
• Except in primary care, you usually don't have your own patients. I'm interested in specialties, in that setting I'd just see follow ups for doctors who have busy schedules essentially. I wouldn't create my own care plan, but just make adjustments within another established plan (not choose what chemo regimen, but dose reduce for toxicity for example). When you do have your own patients like in the ER, it's not uncommon that you're relegated to a "fast track" sniffles/cough section.
• I can handle being under someone, but I thrive more when I'm leading and value autonomy. I think I would resent having to defer to the MD eventually especially if I thought I was correct on a key point. I'd hate hitting a "ceiling" as a midlevel and staying there for >20 years.
• Lateral mobility may be decreasing in the future as PA residencies continue to spring up. Certifications like in nursing aren't that hard to see coming, and it's difficult to move from one specialty to an unrelated specialty.

• After working with PA students, and PA-C's in an ER residency, I don't feel comfortable doing the PA route based on its structure. It was designed for established medical professionals (like paramedics for example) to step up to a mid level role instead of doing 10 years of medical training. It was not designed for 21 year old undergrads with 200 hours of volunteering stacking blankets in an ER and 1 summer working fulltime as a CNA. I am concerned about new PAs as their program really doesn't prepare them well enough to act on their own but sometimes their "supervising" physician doesn't want to be training someone, they hired them to decrease their workload not increase it. I didn't want to feel like I was learning a ton "on the job" but rather that I was an expert prepared for the job. Speaking with PAs they felt they learned most of their practical knowledge after graduation (just like Residency for physicians) - but they are being trained by a random physician group who needed someone to help with workload, not a training program. I could do a ~9-18 mo residency but those are rare in specialties, primarily for ER/surgical areas.

So, in my third year since graduation, I continued to scribe in various settings, and took the MCAT instead of the GRE. I applied to med schools and now am going to start in August. I have absolutely no misgivings about this being the right choice for me personally.

Just sent @----x---- a $10 Amazon gift card (on behalf of SDN) for this extremely helpful post. 🙂

 

[Sardinia]

@plmoknijb You will continue to get personal-anecdotal evidence until you can effectively explain your own motivations and views on this topic. Your physicians will continue to disparage your interest in being a PA because you are a "young, ahead of the curve 19 year old" until you can actually formulate tangible resolutions and a realistic view of both professions. If you are looking for more detailed information on either field, then you should rephrase your concern to seek basic information on either field rather than looking for a comparative assessment.

 

[Deleted member 755173]

I can't tell you what you should do, but I can give you reasons why I chose what I did and perhaps that will help you think through your decision.

I graduated undergrad at age 22, had already done an internship in healthcare admin and didn't want to do just that, so I worked as a medical scribe in an ER to see if medicine in general was for me.
After almost 1 year in the ER I thought yeah, but I'll do PA for these reasons:

• Less time commitment
• Greater "work life balance"
• Financially isn't significantly worse long run, better short run (>70k/yr = no big increase in quality of life)
• Lateral Mobility to move specialties and keep it interesting
• Similar day to day work

So I then spent about more 1 year continuing to work, but also taking a few pre-requisites at a community college as PA schools needed some different courses. I scribed in multiple specialties and care settings, working with MD/DO and PA/NP. After that second year I knew PA would be a bad option for me personally, even though on paper it looks like the better general option.

• I enjoy learning more than many of my peers, and would regret not learning all I can about medicine. This is a regret some PAs have voiced, wishing they knew more.
• PAs sometimes know what the "cookbook" calls for, but not why the ingredients work together well. They get what should be done but not always everything behind why it's done that way.
• The "work life balance" of a PA is dependent on the physician group/hospital. Sometimes PA/NP have it as bad or worse (scut work is loaded to them).
• Except in primary care, you usually don't have your own patients. I'm interested in specialties, in that setting I'd just see follow ups for doctors who have busy schedules essentially. I wouldn't create my own care plan, but just make adjustments within another established plan (not choose what chemo regimen, but dose reduce for toxicity for example). When you do have your own patients like in the ER, it's not uncommon that you're relegated to a "fast track" sniffles/cough section.
• I can handle being under someone, but I thrive more when I'm leading and value autonomy. I think I would resent having to defer to the MD eventually especially if I thought I was correct on a key point. I'd hate hitting a "ceiling" as a midlevel and staying there for >20 years.
• Lateral mobility may be decreasing in the future as PA residencies continue to spring up. Certifications like in nursing aren't that hard to see coming, and it's difficult to move from one specialty to an unrelated specialty.

• After working with PA students, and PA-C's in an ER residency, I don't feel comfortable doing the PA route based on its structure. It was designed for established medical professionals (like paramedics for example) to step up to a mid level role instead of doing 10 years of medical training. It was not designed for 21 year old undergrads with 200 hours of volunteering stacking blankets in an ER and 1 summer working fulltime as a CNA. I am concerned about new PAs as their program really doesn't prepare them well enough to act on their own but sometimes their "supervising" physician doesn't want to be training someone, they hired them to decrease their workload not increase it. I didn't want to feel like I was learning a ton "on the job" but rather that I was an expert prepared for the job. Speaking with PAs they felt they learned most of their practical knowledge after graduation (just like Residency for physicians) - but they are being trained by a random physician group who needed someone to help with workload, not a training program. I could do a ~9-18 mo residency but those are rare in specialties, primarily for ER/surgical areas.

So, in my third year since graduation, I continued to scribe in various settings, and took the MCAT instead of the GRE. I applied to med schools and now am going to start in August. I have absolutely no misgivings about this being the right choice for me personally.

This is a great answer, thank you for your input!

 

[CannonballComin]

I would love to help anyone with specific questions as I was a PA and will be graduating MD this spring. I've posted some things in the past on this topic that you can access by clicking my name. I know it can be a tough decision and would hate for anyone to regret their choice half way through.