PA Work Hours

[Moosepig]

I have a friend who has for a very long time wanted to be a doctor. Recently however, she has become unsure about this calling due to the amount of years the schooling + residency + (potentially) a fellowship takes. She is also unsure about the amount of hours a week required of a Doctor, and how that will impact her ability to start and raise a family and be a present mother. My question is, do PAs have 'better' hours than Doctors, usually? She is not demanding a 40-hour a week or bust, but feasibly do PAs often have fairly decent work schedules?

I guess in general what are the prospects of raising a family and being present for them as a mother relative to doing so as a doctor?

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[deleted6669]

you only work as many hours as you want as either a pa or a doc. I know lots of docs and pa's who work 20 hrs/week. I also know lots of docs and pa's who work 80+ hrs/week.
the doc will be a lot more comfortable on a 20 hr/week salary than a pa. also the hrs the pa's work may not be as choice as doc hrs.
docs hire pa's to do the work they don't want to do at times and places they don't want to do it so they can be home with their families.....there are some nice pa gigs out there(mostly primary care) but most specialty pa's do more than their fair share of nights/weekend/holidays.
I work 180-230 hrs/mo(mostly nights). the docs in my group max out at 140 hrs/mo and only do 1 night/mo.
I would advise your friend to suck it up and do med school then find a nice friendly community fp residency with night float coverage and get a 20 hr/week job after residency making more than a pa working 50 hrs/week.
I trained with an fp doc who had a baby each yr of residency and graduated on time. it is doable.

 

[SouthSideSteve]

. My question is, do PAs have 'better' hours than Doctors, usually?

As a PA you are basically a PGY1 for the rest of your career. Keeping that in mind, my experience on surgical services is that the PA pre-rounds, and also stays late working up consults/doing H&Ps. Docs employ PAs so they have to do less scut and can get home sooner. So who do you think is going to stay late to dictate discharge summaries, the MD or the PA?

She is not demanding a 40-hour a week or bust, but feasibly do PAs often have fairly decent work schedules?

Depending on the specialty yes. ER can be 36 hrs a week. Derm can be a cake schedule.

I guess in general what are the prospects of raising a family and being present for them as a mother relative to doing so as a doctor?

Its specialty dependent, but vascular PAs don't automatically have better hours than vascular surgeons.

 

[Chameleonchick]

I have often wondered about this as well in the beginning. I know as far as my interests science has always been one of them. So academically either route is a good fit for me. My concern is being that awesome Mom that I am now. I have been in school full-time for the past two years. When I started school both of my children were in full time day-care and it was a little rough getting adjusted to this new schedule. Now I have one in school and my other one is in day-care which is much easier. However, I am not going to be in school forever. From the PAs I have talked to (single moms in particular) they say its the best route they have taken. They can still practice medicine and still show up to all or most of the events for the kids. It has taken me a while to learn how to balance my career/academic goals along with being there for my children, but I have good system now. I chose PA because it seems like a good fit for me. I will say if your friend wants to be a physician, tell her to go for it. There is no room for regret when it comes to life goals. Whatever she wants to do, if she really wants it, she will find a way to do it.

 

[physasst]

As a PA you are basically a PGY1 for the rest of your career. Keeping that in mind, my experience on surgical services is that the PA pre-rounds, and also stays late working up consults/doing H&Ps. Docs employ PAs so they have to do less scut and can get home sooner. So who do you think is going to stay late to dictate discharge summaries, the MD or the PA?



Depending on the specialty yes. ER can be 36 hrs a week. Derm can be a cake schedule.




Its specialty dependent, but vascular PAs don't automatically have better hours than vascular surgeons.

Not really. More like a senior resident/fellow. I had to do the same rotations and tests that the fellows do in my current job. I get treated like a colleague and I certainly do not present every patient.

You'll never be like an attending, that is true, and you shouldn't be. You're a PA, not a physician, but, you aren't really like a PGY-1 your whole career either.