PA's and sports medicine

[stevo23]

Hi everyone,

I am new to the PA forum because I've spent most of the last 1.5 years on the DO and MD forums. Lately, I've been seriously considering the PA route over the physician route. I think it may be a better fit for me. One question I have is what PA's can do in the sports medicine/wellness realm. I was originally thinking of going to DO school and doing a FP residency followed by a fellowship in sports medicine (non-surgical). Can PA's work in settings like this? Are PA's ever employed in wellness centers doing things such as wellness, fitness, nutritional consulting? I had always thought a physician had more pull in a wellness role, but I wanted to get some feedback on what potentially PA's contributed to the whole wellness realm. Any feeback would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Steve

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[Monika]

Hi stevo23,

I sent you a PM about your post.

Monica, PA-C

Hi everyone,

I am new to the PA forum because I've spent most of the last 1.5 years on the DO and MD forums. Lately, I've been seriously considering the PA route over the physician route. I think it may be a better fit for me. One question I have is what PA's can do in the sports medicine/wellness realm. I was originally thinking of going to DO school and doing a FP residency followed by a fellowship in sports medicine (non-surgical). Can PA's work in settings like this? Are PA's ever employed in wellness centers doing things such as wellness, fitness, nutritional consulting? I had always thought a physician had more pull in a wellness role, but I wanted to get some feedback on what potentially PA's contributed to the whole wellness realm. Any feeback would be most appreciated. Thanks!

Steve

 

[Foxhounds_Eric]

Any chance that you could make that public. I am curious about this as well.

 

[lawguil]

Any chance that you could make that public. I am curious about this as well.

I'm also interested - PA's in sports medicine.

 

[Monika]

In a nutshell, there are plenty of opportunities for PAs to work in Sports Medicine. Several of my classmates went into the Ortho/Sports Medicine field upon graduation.

Here's an excerpt from a Sports Med PA's webpage:

A Physician Assistant in Sports Medicine is someone who practices Orthopaedics with the athlete in mind. The duties of a Physician Assistant in Sports Medicine would include:

First assisting in Surgery.
See patients alone and with the Supervising Physician(s).
May provide medical coverage at local high school athletic events.
Be in charge of Durable Medical Equipment, i.e. Braces/CPM's, etc.
Work as a liaison between local Athletic Trainers and the Physicians.

If you want to ask more questions there are plenty of Ortho PAs available in the 'Ortho' forum at this site: The PA Forum.

 

[Febrifuge]

n seriously considering the PA route over the physician route. I think it may be a better fit for me.

Excellent. Me too. I like to say we're only 89% as crazy as people who go through med school...

The wellness thing sounds cool, either in FP or ortho. Ortho is a field that seems to work excellently well with PAs alongside docs, and in a lot of places, sports med is linked closely with ortho. Also, it strikes me that sports med is already quite progressive and integrated (PTs work with nutritionists work with althletic trainers work with physicians, etc). So I would imagine a PA who gains some experience and skill with sports med could concievably become "the sports med guy"* within a group comprising docs and other PAs. Like everything, it kinda depends on the setting and practice size. With the right situation, the docs who supervise you can also come to consider you the expert in your niche. I've seen it more than a few times.



* guy being used in a gender-nonspecific way, if possible, here

 

[krust3]

sports med is an easy and common area for PAs. especially if you've got your ATC with your PAC.

it's really not that different than being a PA in an ortho clinic. can be surgical or non-surgical and you tend to see more variety including soft tissue injuries, pain management, rehab, neurology, etc. i do plenty of wellness/preventative med work too.

do an ortho elective. no residency required, just apprentice into it.