MD/DO vs. PA --- Advice please.

[Azjoe]

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In the past I have learned so much valuable information by posting questions on SDN, so I thought that I would run this topic by the group. This is something that I am really questioning right now.

MD/DO vs. PA, what are the major differences between these careers?

First off I think everyone here knows a few basics, PA’s report to a Dr. and they make less. I am wondering a few things. Day to day job life, what are the major differences?

I know that the title of Doctor is very important to a lot of people. Some people just could not be a PA for this reason.

I do see some benefits:

2 years of school vs. 4 (A lot less debt)

No residency vs. 3+ years. (More money faster)

Here is what I see…

Let’s take two examples

You are a GP making 150,000 a year.

You are a PA making 100,000 a year.

So 10 years down the road. PA gets 5 extra years of working which would add to a 500,000 head start. He has half of the debt, if not less.

My conclusion is this, if you are not going to be in a specialty like surgery, something that can not be done by PA’s, then maybe PA is the correct route. It also make sense for someone like myself who is a little older than the average.

Please tear this apart and tell me why my you think differently. Like I said I can not decide what to do.

Thanks
Joe

 

[AStudent]

PA all the way.

 

[YzIa]

PA all the way.

Haha, coming from a pre-med.

You reference money an awful lot in your indecision. If its all about $$$, PA is the way to be, especially when you are making 100,000/year as an unspecialized PA. 🙄

 

[masterMood]

well you're not guaranteed to make 100,000 a year to begin with are you? and after like 15 years the doctor surpasses the p.a. by a lot (practice beings to get busy, more patients, etc)

 

[joe6102]

In the past I have learned so much valuable information by posting questions on SDN, so I thought that I would run this topic by the group. This is something that I am really questioning right now.

MD/DO vs. PA, what are the major differences between these careers?

First off I think everyone here knows a few basics, PA’s report to a Dr. and they make less. I am wondering a few things. Day to day job life, what are the major differences?

I know that the title of Doctor is very important to a lot of people. Some people just could not be a PA for this reason.

I do see some benefits:

2 years of school vs. 4 (A lot less debt)

No residency vs. 3+ years. (More money faster)

Here is what I see…

Let’s take two examples

You are a GP making 150,000 a year.

You are a PA making 100,000 a year.

So 10 years down the road. PA gets 5 extra years of working which would add to a 500,000 head start. He has half of the debt, if not less.

My conclusion is this, if you are not going to be in a specialty like surgery, something that can not be done by PA’s, then maybe PA is the correct route. It also make sense for someone like myself who is a little older than the average.

Please tear this apart and tell me why my you think differently. Like I said I can not decide what to do.

Thanks
Joe

If it's all about the money, forget healthcare. Investment banking or corporate law would be the way to go.

 

[Fusion]

Like I said I can not decide what to do.

Bottom line: do you want to be the one to make decisions or would you be happy as someone's assistant? Granted, PA's nowadays are gaining more responsibility and autonomy. Nonetheless, you can only go so far as a PA. As far as investing time and money into a career, I think it is important to realize how much time it really takes to become a PA. It is not two years, it actually takes a little less than three years straight through (no time off). You can start working when you graduate, but you probably wouldn't be making six figures until you had many years of experience under your belt. One good thing about being a PA is that you can work in different specialties if you so desired, not to mention you won't really have to ever worry about getting sued by a patient or paying outrageous malpractice premiums. But it's all about how much responsibility you want for someone's health and if whether you will be satisfied with all aspects of your career. If you know in your heart you want to be a PA, then go for it. Just don't settle for an assistant's role when you really wanted to be a doctor all along but were just not willing to invest the time.

 

[Azjoe]

Thanks so far guys. Yes money is important to me, I would be lying if I said anything different. It is not all about money, but being 27 now makes the number of years and the amount of debt more important to me then someone 21 heading off to med school. A family also factors into my thinking.

 

[sunUCB]

the median salary for PAs is around 65-66,000. i'm not sure what the mean is, but i'd be surprised if it was 100k.

 

[ForbiddenComma]

In a typical group, the PA gets a straight salary while the partner MD gets a percentage of the profit. Once things get going, it will be the MD who is driving the 7-series.

Also, you exaggerate starting PA salaries. No way in hell they are going to be making 100k right out of school.

Finally, they are not independent and must rely on MDs for their jobs. For a better debate, I would look at the nurse practitioner. 2 years master's level work, and in most areas they can practice independent of any MD, do most of the billable procedures, and basically do 90-95% of what a PCP does.

 

[masterMood]

there's nothing wrong with going into medicine if money is a big factor as long as the other factors are in place as well.

The one great thing that the health fields regardless of your career path is that you're almost guaranteed to have a well-paying salary compared to other fields.

The problem with law and banking is that you have to work a lot harder to get to this point, still risk not getting the amount you desire, extremely stressful workload, company atmosphere doing paperwork the whole day, not that interesting. i'd kill myself if i did this every single day for the rest of my life.

but i think you'd have a lot less doctors in america today, if their salaries were equal to or lower than many other jobs today. In this type of scenario, I'd say you'd truly find the dedicated in medicine.

 

[ForbiddenComma]

but i think you'd have a lot less doctors in america today, if their salaries were equal to or lower than many other jobs today. In this type of scenario, I'd say you'd truly find the dedicated in medicine.

You'd certainly find fewer dermatologists

 

[fpr85]

You could probably start out as a PA and then become a Doctor 🙂