Nontraditional Female.........PA or MD/DO?

[Science Teacher]

Hi,

I have a question. I'm a 33 year female who has always wanted to be a physician. I am now at a crossroad. I'm concerned about time, family, etc. I, currently have no children, but I want a family. So I'm not sure what I should do. I have been teaching for 10 years now and I love my job and have touched many lives; however, I still have the desire to be a physician. So I don't know, I'm stressing, and time is ticking. PA school or MD/DO? Any thoughts?

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[theseeker4]

Hi,

I have a question. I'm a 33 year female who has always wanted to be a physician. I am now at a crossroad. I'm concerned about time, family, etc. I, currently have no children, but I want a family. So I'm not sure what I should do. I have been teaching for 10 years now and I love my job and have touched many lives; however, I still have the desire to be a physician. So I don't know, I'm stressing, and time is ticking. PA school or MD/DO? Any thoughts?

What makes you want to be a doctor? What makes you want to be a PA? Becoming a doctor will be a longer road, possibly much harder, so you have to take that into account. If making a decent salary working in health care and having more time for your family is your priority, I would have to say go PA (without having any first-hand knowledge, of course). If managing and eventually being completely in charge of patients' care is worth the greater time needed to become a doctor and larger portion of your week taken up by work/studying/etc. then go for medical school. This is something you can only determine by asking yourself and shadowing/talking with doctors and PA's.

I am curious, why are you leaving nursing out? Nurses these days have larger roles in patient care than in previous years, can make quite a bit of money and can advance through NP to be quite high up the totem pole of health care. Something to consider if you are not dead set on being a doctor.

 

[Science Teacher]

Why do I want to become a doctor?: I want to become a physician for a number of reasons. The first, which I'm sure at this point is very cliche, but I love helping people. It satifies my soul to be able to help people feel better. Second, I love the human body and want to learn as much as I can about how it works, how and why it malfunctions, and ways to help prevent disease. Third, I love education. I love to learn and discover new things. I enjoy educating people and I think it is very important for me to be able to educated patients to help in disease prevention. Last but not least, I want to be able to diagnose and treat patients. I am also an EMT and I am interested in Emergency Medicine. I would like to treat and educate patients.

I have shadowed and worked with physicians. My entire life there isn't any thing else that I wanted to do. But now I'm getting older and I do want a family in the future. I am a very family oriented person and I want to be able to have a child and be able to spend time with my family. As a famle I feel like I am on a time schedule. But I don't want to sacrifice what I've wanted all this time. I'm just wondering if I chose the PA route would it satisfy my desires listed above. And I don't want to make a decision I will regret later.

Nursing: My mother is a nurse and I believe she was probably my first introduction to the medical/health field. After hearing her stories, watching what she does and other nurses in the ER, I know that I'm not intersted in that field. I greatly respect all nurses and what they do but its not what I want to do.

 

[theseeker4]

Well as an EMT with a mother who is a nurse, you probably have more knowledge of a PA's job and lifestyle than I. I would simply talk to PA's and doctors about the differences between the two jobs, as that is the only way to really know whether you could be happy as a PA. Any advice given to you over the internet is diluted by several layers of interpretation, so the best way for you to judge is to have as much direct exposure as you can.

Personally, I have a wife and son so the sacrifices they and I will make for me to pursue an MD are significant. However, I don't think I can be happy working in health care if I will not, some day, be in charge of my patient's care, if I will not be the "ultimate" authority. I want to be able to prescribe the most restricted drugs, do procedures restricted to doctors, etc. For that reason, I am not interested in being a nurse or PA, even though I could make a lot of money a lot sooner through that route than I can by pursuing an MD. Whether the difference between a PA's job and a doctor's job is worth the additional sacrifice is a completely personal decision, and the best way to decide is to talk to people in each profession.

Good luck, and if you want to ask anything of me specifically feel free to PM me.

 

[ejw5075]

Why do I want to become a doctor?: I want to become a physician for a number of reasons. The first, which I'm sure at this point is very cliche, but I love helping people. It satifies my soul to be able to help people feel better. Second, I love the human body and want to learn as much as I can about how it works, how and why it malfunctions, and ways to help prevent disease. Third, I love education. I love to learn and discover new things. I enjoy educating people and I think it is very important for me to be able to educated patients to help in disease prevention. Last but not least, I want to be able to diagnose and treat patients. I am also an EMT and I am interested in Emergency Medicine. I would like to treat and educate patients.

I have shadowed and worked with physicians. My entire life there isn't any thing else that I wanted to do. But now I'm getting older and I do want a family in the future. I am a very family oriented person and I want to be able to have a child and be able to spend time with my family. As a famle I feel like I am on a time schedule. But I don't want to sacrifice what I've wanted all this time. I'm just wondering if I chose the PA route would it satisfy my desires listed above. And I don't want to make a decision I will regret later.

Nursing: My mother is a nurse and I believe she was probably my first introduction to the medical/health field. After hearing her stories, watching what she does and other nurses in the ER, I know that I'm not intersted in that field. I greatly respect all nurses and what they do but its not what I want to do.

While no one can really tell you if you will be satisfied as a PA vs a MD/DO, the qualities you listed and the fact that you want to start a family soon (I'm assuming by your "time schedule" sorry if that is incorrect) I would go the PA route. You will be able to balance family/work whether you choose to go to PA school or medical school but the question is what would make you happier and what are you willing to sacrifice?

Have you shadowed a PA? I would highly recommend doing so if you haven't, it is a great experience and will definitely help you make your decision. I've seen many people go through this debate and ironically all of them were female. Not trying to start anything but I just think it is amazing the things we as women have to consider in our career choices. I've never met a man in his twenties question whether choosing medical school will limit his ability to have a family. I guess reproducing into their 80's makes men in less of a hurry

 

[JESSFALLING]

You might check out LECOM's 3-year DO program for student's who are willing to commit to family medicine. If you could get accepted there, you could be working (as a resident) in the same amount of time as a PA...except that you'd be a doctor after your internship year!

Either way, both are great careers. You also need to examine your personally-type and find out if you are going to be willing to always have a boss. Personally, I'm looking forward to the autonomy that a DO/MD will provide. (Here's a good site for you: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp - Just 'google' your results once you're done and you can find out a ton of informative info.)

(Also) I really recommend reading "Caring for the Country"...It's a great eye-opener to what the family doctor can really do. Most of the doctors in the book have managed to run a practice AND have a family and maintain their community ties. It's very inspiring.