MD/DO vs. PA

[guest794]

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I'm a slightly non-traditional student looking for advice. I was pre-vet in undergrad then switched as a junior after realizing caring for animals wasn't my passion. I took most pre-med requirements and almost changed majors when I got cancer, took a few years off and am now in remission at 25 and became interested in oncology. I'm very interested in a healthcare-related field but also have other interests such as music. I've shadowed oncology docs and while many of them have been great, doctors in general seem to be completely consumed by their work to me, even when they go home they are researching or working on cases, and some seemed burned out or tell me that their job is their life, and they wouldn't do anything different. Would being a PA give you more flexibility to work a regular job and do other things whereas with Mds/Dos it's essentially a 24/7 job apart from vacations?

 

[Vince411]

Have you job-shadowed docs in other fields? Are you set on oncology as the only specialty that you would consider? Maybe job shadow PA's too. It can't hurt to job shadow multiple docs and PA's in different settings to see what really interests you. I have heard from some of my doc friends that PA's have better work-life balance/less consumed by their work and you'd have less loans going the PA route.

 

[Promethean]

If you want to punch a clock, have a supervisor, and go home more or less on schedule, but still get to work in medicine... PA is the route for you.

MD/DO can be done part-time, assuming you don't have loans to repay, and you can structure your practice so that it is less intense and makes fewer demands of you. But I'm going to say that is the exception. You've already noted... either people have a passion for it and eat/sleep/breathe it because it is what they want to still be thinking about at home, or else they don't really want that and are burned out.

I agree that you should shadow more. Spend more time with PAs to see what their jobs are really like. It isn't a bad gig, at all.

 

[blacchic856]

I'm a slightly non-traditional student looking for advice. I was pre-vet in undergrad then switched as a junior after realizing caring for animals wasn't my passion. I took most pre-med requirements and almost changed majors when I got cancer, took a few years off and am now in remission at 25 and became interested in oncology. I'm very interested in a healthcare-related field but also have other interests such as music. I've shadowed oncology docs and while many of them have been great, doctors in general seem to be completely consumed by their work to me, even when they go home they are researching or working on cases, and some seemed burned out or tell me that their job is their life, and they wouldn't do anything different. Would being a PA give you more flexibility to work a regular job and do other things whereas with Mds/Dos it's essentially a 24/7 job apart from vacations?

Check out physicianassistantforum. There's a lot of posts about this topic. Shadow both professions too. You don't want regrets either way.

 

[CBSstalker]

If you want to punch a clock, have a supervisor, and go home more or less on schedule, but still get to work in medicine... PA is the route for you.

MD/DO can be done part-time, assuming you don't have loans to repay, and you can structure your practice so that it is less intense and makes fewer demands of you. But I'm going to say that is the exception. You've already noted... either people have a passion for it and eat/sleep/breathe it because it is what they want to still be thinking about at home, or else they don't really want that and are burned out.

I agree that you should shadow more. Spend more time with PAs to see what their jobs are really like. It isn't a bad gig, at all.

Don't go by this assumption. Many PA's work very long and stressful hours. They are doing a lot of the work that physicians don't want to do, so this ends up happening.

I am a former PA-C. http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/ is a better place for questions to ask about the PA profession.

 

[Promethean]

Don't go by this assumption. Many PA's work very long and stressful hours. They are doing a lot of the work that physicians don't want to do, so this ends up happening.

I am a former PA-C. http://www.physicianassistantforum.com/ is a better place for questions to ask about the PA profession.

Agreed. I certainly know PAs who work crazy hours, and don't mean to imply that being a PA is a strictly 9-5 gig.

But it can be. In a way that MD/DO almost never is. There are PA jobs with no call, where anything over 40 hours a week is paid overtime. That is a lot harder to come by as a physician. That is my point, not that PAs are slackers. I'd never say that, and hope it didn't come across that way.

 

[CBSstalker]

Agreed. I certainly know PAs who work crazy hours, and don't mean to imply that being a PA is a strictly 9-5 gig.

But it can be. In a way that MD/DO almost never is. There are PA jobs with no call, where anything over 40 hours a week is paid overtime. That is a lot harder to come by as a physician. That is my point, not that PAs are slackers. I'd never say that, and hope it didn't come across that way.

I say this as a former psychiatric PA-C. Psychiatrists in this field can go without taking call and still make bucks. I knew many that just referred all their patients to the suicide and crisis center for after hour calls. Emergencies go to the ER. I was in a group that did this. This happens with many 15 to 20 minute medication management-no therapy practices.

 

[CannonballComin]

I am a PA-C now rotating as a medical student. I log on to SDN every couple months to make myself available to folks trying to make this decision like you are. Anyone reading this please feel free to PM me with specific questions. As for the OP's question: I would just reiterate what was said before. In my experience, letters behind your name have little to do with the # of hours you'll work or what your free time looks like. That is determined by the jobs you apply to and what's important to you while negotiating your contract. There were times while I was working as a PA when I had to be very intentional with our scheduler or they'd have me working six 10-12 hour shifts a week. That is completely normal to me now as a student but as a young guy out of school enjoying his 20's...no thank you. Also, I saw no evidence that the midlevel providers had more time with patients...just that the doctor's see sicker patients. I'll just briefly mention this, but the biggest thing that should be determining your decision is whether or not you want to take care of sick people. I don't mean healthy people who get normal sick, I mean truly sick people and old sick people. As a PA I was good at what I was asked to do. But if medical school has taught me one thing it's that I had no business caring for the occasional truly sick person that made their way to seeing me in the ED. Medicine is far too complex to be learned in 2 years and I'll leave it at that. You're scratching the surface at 2 years.