PA or DO

[nweb]

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Guys, I am stuck.

I can't seem to decide which path (PA or DO) to pursue. I am very interested in both. I love the DO philosophy and the possiblilty of practicing medicine with this type of background, but see the benefits of a PA career allowing more "outside of work" time for life and family.

Maybe some of you could help by tellling me about your own personal battles with the same choice?

 

[rad_one]

Go the distance and get the D.O. degree. If you are really concerned about family life, choose a specialty that will allow for it. Picture yourself later on in life looking back at your career choice...what do you think you'll be happy with? Remember, it's a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[deleted6669]

you can work as much or as little as you want as a DO or a PA. most pa's work the same hours as the docs who employ them so there is not much diiference in the time outside of work. there is obviously a salary and knowledge difference. spend some time with each in a clinical setting and figure out what is best for you. if you don't need to run the show, then pa is a viable option. if you need to be a physician with all that entails, go DO. best of luck whatever you decide.for more info about pa's check out www.aapa.org and for info on optional pa residencies check out www.appap.org

 

[klgsatx]

YAWN😱

 

[Adapt]

I can't believe this is even a question. As a doctor, you get more respect, more cash, and more girls. I think the better question would be MD or DO.

 

[Teufelhunden]

This whole "respect" thing is way overplayed. People shouldn't be seeking careers based on "respect." Respect is earned based on a lot more than your job title.

There are excellent PAs who are highly respected, and some crappy doctors who aren't. The reverese is also true.

In the end, the question as to whether you should purse PA versus MD/DO rests upon what you want to do and how much school/training you're willing to go through.

As a PA you are relatively limited, as compared to the scope of practice and opportunities of a physician.

A PA can never open up a Derm clinic. A PA will never be in charge of a surgical team. I could go on and on with example as there are a myriad of opportunities available to physicians that aren't available to PAs.

However, if you think enjoy primary care medicine under physician supervision, or don't mind always being first-assist on surgery, by all means go the PA route. Seriously, I strongly considered PA school myself, and my wife is still considering it.

In the end, I chose med school because I hadn't yet decided what I wanted to do within medicine, and wanted to leave all my options open. Heck, I'm an MS-III and I'm still undecided.

 

[deleted6669]

TEFELHUNDEN-HOW CAN YOU RESPECT PA'S ON THIS THREAD AND SAY WE ARE ALL CRAP ON ANOTHER CONCURRENTLY RUNNING THREAD?
" ANY IDIOT CAN BECOME A PARAMEDIC OR A PA"

YEAH AND ANY HIGH SCHOOL DROP OUT CAN JOIN THE MARINES...

enough is enough, ok?
let's just say that I respect where you have been and what you have done and I wish you the best in your studies. please treat other members of this forum with the same courtesy. thanks. peace.

 

[Teufelhunden]

Originally posted by emedpa
TEFELHUNDEN-HOW CAN YOU RESPECT PA'S ON THIS THREAD AND SAY WE ARE ALL CRAP ON ANOTHER CONCURRENTLY RUNNING THREAD?
" ANY IDIOT CAN BECOME A PARAMEDIC OR A PA"

You should re-read my posts. I never said anything derogatory about PAs...never said anything that even resembles the above.

The only derogatory thing I said on a previous post was: "This paramedic-hype always kills me. Take any GED-holder, send 'em through community college paramedic program and they think they're freaking trauma surgeons. You could train a monkey to follow the ACLS algorithim. Paramedics are technicians, nothing more."

If you notice, I didn't mention PAs once in that entire thread. So, no contradiction there, huh?

The majority of PAs I've worked with have been wonderful, and extremely competent. I really have no stake in this PA debate at all. Hell, like I said, I stongly considered becoming a PA myself.

 

[deleted6669]

fair enough.I apologize for any part I may have had in the downward spiral of this thread.I admit I got a little hot under the collar.
let's let this topic die a peaceful death now.-e

 

[PACtoDOC]

Let me throw my last two cents in here Teufel. I found your comments about paramedics to be condescending as well, but because of our similarities I will overlook it if you can just meet me on some common ground here. I may not have spent 13 weeks at Parris island, but compared to FMS at Camp Johnson, half a year pounding the sand with 1st CEB in GW1, sniper training, tons of other stuff like cold weather training, etc... I think you can see that this corpsman comes with a label that makes many an admin Marine even look like a wannabe. If you knew much about specwar you would know how important a corpsman is in the teams and in FR. We go through more than you would at Parris Island and you know it. 13 weeks of sand fleas and screaming seems tough then I bet but even now you have probably done worse. But what really got me was the statement that you made about paramedics. I might buy off on the fact that any EMT could be straight from the monkey farm, but paramedics are a different breed. And just passing the national certifiying exam is the first hurdle. Working as a medic, especially as the in-charge medic on a truck takes real skill and backbone. ACLS is only one small component of a paramedics training. We are also taught to deal with nearly any medical prehospital case as well. My guess is that your wife never worked as a paramedic or she would have slapped the cammo paint off your jar head for saying such a statement. Just passing the test is not that hard. Yes I agree that being a paramedic is no real pre-requisite for doing well in med school, and yes, many paramedics assume that paraGod attitude (have some in my class as well that round out the bottom quarter!!). How bout you and I bury the K-bar and agree that we have more in common that out of common. I still love the Marines and consider myself to have never really been in the Navy. I still send my buddies in 2-8 care packages in the Gulf even 10 years later. I have read your other posts on other threads, especially DO related, and I think we are not that much different in ideology. So, what do you say devil dog?

Matt

 

[Teufelhunden]

I'll be the first to agree with you about admin Marines, i.e. "pogue." After recruit training, they basically constitute a glorified secretary-pool.

Hey, I've got mad respect for Corpsman...hell, I married one. My wife taught combat Battle Skills at 2d FSSG for 2 years. When she was a Mayport clinic in Jax, her and another Corpsman won coveted spots in the base's Paramedic school. They were the only two Navy personnel in the entire class fo DOD/Federal Firefighters. Besides her clinicals at Shands in Jax (where there's a handful of trauma), she really didn't use it much afterwards. ******ed navy...spends all this money to send her through school, then make her the friggin LPO of sick call.

Anyway, I'll agree that most "green-side" Corpsman do a hell of a lot more intense training than a lot of Marines, e.g. airwing, admin, supply, cooks, etc. I can say from my experience...the Corpsman in our platoon was a freaking stud who could out-run and out-shoot most of the Marines.

We'll have to agree to disagree on the medic debate. It's my contention that your average medic has a woefully average IQ. Again, that's just based on my experience...I could be wrong.

Are there really smart medics? Hell yeah. But most of them aren't medics for life, know what I mean? In fact, most of the smart medics I know ended up in medical school. (Sound like someone you know?)

Listen, there tends to be a stratification in medicine. No matter what your starting point is, per se, people usually end up migrating upward on the food chain if they're smarter than their starting point. Did that make any sense?

And....I'm sorry, but a lot of these 50 y/o medics just didn't migrate upward because being a freaking medic just about maxes out their capabilities. Follow? That's all I'm saying, devil-doc. Nothing personal against any individual medic, just my personal observations.

Again, maybe I'm wrong.

BTW, I did my first 4 years w/ 2d CEB, so we have more in common than you think. Besides that, now I'm a freaking squid anyway (Navy HPSP), so I guess I can't Navy-bash anymore.

Anyway, I'm all for a truce, okay?

Semper Fi

Kevin

 

[PACtoDOC]

oooh rahh Kevin. What the hell made you want to do the Navy HPSP if you don't mind me asking? After PA school, I found a loophole in the Army Reserve PA recruitment that allowed me to sign up in the reserve for 3 year with a 30,000 dollar bonus. I would have been crazy not to. I always wanted to be an officer anyway if for no other reason than to show the enlisted that there are mustang officers who do care about their plite. It was a totol joke, and I would never have done it were it not for the cash. I did enjoy some of the high speed training I got to do, but as with your wife's situation, the Army is even worse about training everyone to jump out of a plane and then sending you back to work sick call.

My guess is you went Navy to be back with the Marines. The Navy has the best medical around. The hospitals are all pretty nice in comparison to your average Army hospital. I just didn't like the idea of having to be a GMO, so I scrubbed it. If the Navy could have guaranteed me a residency day one, I would have done it. Instead I took a NHSC scholarship which has the same benefits but allows me to get old and fat without timing my QOD 3 mile run!!

I hate to say it but I have to admit you are right in many respects about the "average medics". I can remember some real boneheads in my medic class, and now that you mention it, most of the guys I hung out with have gone on to bigger and better things.

Seems we just found a point of contention that sparked a typical Marine-Squid rivalry and I am glad to see it has settled down now. So where are you in school? I am at TCOM in Texas. We have a huge ex-military presence here and it is nice. Our president of the HSC is the former surgeon general of the Army, and it is rather strange sitting across from a lunch meeting with him. Only time I ever saw a 3 star was when I was standing at attention! Later Kevin

Matt