MD, part-time P.A. ?

[Doreen]

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Does anyone know if a recent medical graduate can work as a physician assistant if he/she doesn't match this year and wants to start paying off the interest on student loans?

 

[edmadison]

Originally posted by Doreen
Does anyone know if a recent medical graduate can work as a physician assistant if he/she doesn't match this year and wants to start paying off the interest on student loans?

I don't know the answer for sure, but I think it would be tough because you'd have no license.

Ed

 

[beyond all hope]

No. Most states require at least a year of residency training to get a license. Until then you can't treat patients legally as a doctor, period. You'd have to go to PA school to get a PA license.

 

[Tenesma]

you can't work as a PA because you need to be licensed as a PA...

there are some states that allow you to take the USMLE3 right after med school and use it towards a license application, and then you can work in an acute care clinic managing lacerations and colds and other stuff that walks through... some people i know have made decent money doing this...

 

[Freeeedom!]

Whaaaat???
So you are telling me, that you are so dense, you can't even scramble into a transitional year? What? Or even join the armed forces for loan repayment then become a flight surgeon after your transitional year?

Have you even researched your options...or is this just a trolling question to start a flame war?

 

[Yogi Bear]

Originally posted by Freeeedom!
Whaaaat???
So you are telling me, that you are so dense, you can't even scramble into a transitional year? What? Or even join the armed forces for loan repayment then become a flight surgeon after your transitional year?

Have you even researched your options...or is this just a trolling question to start a flame war?

the poster listed 'peurto rico'. i imagine they might be at a non-us school so matching might be difficult.

 

[Apollyon]

I thought all 3 schools in PR (there WERE 3, but I don't know if it may be 2 or 4 now) were LCME-accredited. I DO know that the U PR residencies are in the match.

 

[Weil-Felix]

Originally posted by Freeeedom!
Whaaaat???
So you are telling me, that you are so dense, you can't even scramble into a transitional year? What? Or even join the armed forces for loan repayment then become a flight surgeon after your transitional year?

Have you even researched your options...or is this just a trolling question to start a flame war?

A person is automatically dense/trolling because they don't want to scramble into a transitional year (and wind up in whatever godforsaken part of the country they can land a scramble spot in)? Has it occurred to you that someone might have an exceptional circumstance that might keep them from doing something like that? (i.e. a spouse that cannot relocate) If for some ungodly reason I don't match in the same state as my husband, you had better believe that I will take a year off from medicine and find some other means of income for that year. Come on, man. Some people don't have that kind of flexibility. It doesn't make them dense.

 

[Freeeedom!]

I just find it an incredibly unwise move to skip a year of training that may be used for a residency year...and then ask if they can practice as a PA without a PA license. Doesn't make a bit of sense. The entire conversation is purely without merit. Considering...you take a year off, you start loan repayment. None of it makes sense.

 

[beyond all hope]

Don't bother trying to be a PA. Do at least a year of residency.

I personally agree with the state medical boards in that a year of training after medical school should be the minimum. You learn so much in this first year of residency in terms of the practicalities of clinical medicine, how to practice autonomously, etc.

Think about the practicalities:
Pay: you make 35-40K, which sucks, but you get full benefits and a month of paid vacation, and it's certainly enough to live on. You also get an education, which is necessary.
Loans: If you have a large amount of debt, you qualify for an Economic Hardship deferrement, which means you pay nothing and you don't even pay interest on your subsidized loans.
Skills: Amazing growth in the first year.
Marketability: You won't be able to get a license without at least a year or residency, but even if you figure out a scam do to so, no one would hire you.

Do FP, EM, or primary care Internal medicine to get the broadest clinical experience. I know you're feeling the weight of your loans (we all do), but think of residency as an investment in your career.

BTW, a transitional year is one of the most competative prelim spots to get. Not just any chump can get a spot - you're competing with future radiologists, dermatologists and the like.

 

[Doreen]

I am the one who posted the question of part-time P.A.
Let me explain that there are 4 medical schools in PR. All accredited by the licensing authority of the medical board of Puerto Rico. Only 3 are LCME accredited. The one I attend is not LCME accredited but I chose to go there instead of Mexico or the Dominican Republic because I didn't want to be considered international or a "foreign medical graduate." The only problem with the school which I later found out was that I'd have to wait until graduation in order to take Steps I and II of the USMLE I passed my PR boards but it doesn't really mean anything since I don't care to practice there.
I worked my butt off to prove that it's not the school that makes the doctor but the student herself. No other student in my entire school did electives outside of PR but I did them at the University of Miami and Mount Sinai (FL). Okay I'm writing too much but anyway since it's not LCME nor ECFMG accredited I'm stuck in the middle and know for a fact I will not match this year since I don't have my steps yet.
I heard of an unlicensed physician who worked as a P.A. until he got his license which was about 10 years ago. I am planning on applying for Pgy-1 in 2005 but I was just wondering what type of medically related job I could do that actually paid in the meantime as I will have to start paying off my student loans until I'm in residency.

 

[The White Coat Investor]

You can't BE a P.A., but you can function as one. You see, a P.A. doesn't practice on their own license, they practice on the license of their physician. For example, as an MS4 I worked doing pre-surgical H&Ps. The surgeon's still had to sign at the bottom line, but I did the work. I was paid $20 an hour. Now, $20 ain't that much, but its probably as much as you're qualified to make at this point. If you can line up 160 hours a month, you'll make nearly what a resident would. I would check into doing something like that.

 

[DocWagner]

Yes, I think that is quite true...you could do that while studying for the boards and enter into a transitional year somewhere in the middle of the residency.
Or simply cram for steps one and two in two months and start a transitional year in a less than ideal place...a bit late. Work your ass of then apply to a decent residency.